Motherhood

The role of "Mother's" have been on my mind for the last week or so.  The first reason is due to the fact that some of my friends and I have been discussing how to help the rising generation become strong mothers, and second, because of Mother's Day that was yesterday.

At church yesterday the Relief Society President gave a wonderfully funny lesson on Mother's.  When she started she asked the question, how many of you women enjoy Mother's Day?  My hand shot strait up in the air without hesitation and a few other women shyly raised theirs as well.  Only five women out of forty or so women enjoy Mother's Day.  I understand why, that is not the question in my mind, the question I present is, are you a women who would raise her hand with those five women or do you dread the day along with the forty?  And to follow up that question, what are you going to do to make sure your hand is raised with those five women next year?

I am going to list a few reasons why some women hate Mother's Day and then I will list some reason's why I love Mother's Day.

I have discussed this with many women and most of the answers are the same, they say they don't enjoy the day because what we discuss is the perfect women who has her hair done beautifully after exercising at 5 in the morning and she has already baked several loafs of bread for the sick neighbor, made breakfast, done a load of laundry, there are no dishes in her sink,  and is happily taking the children to school.  As a society we idealize these women who do not exist.  That is the fact of the matter, but it does not have to remain so.

The other main reason why women do not enjoy Mother's Day is because some women are not mothers.  To those women, I truly feel for you.  I can only imagine how difficult it must be to celebrate something you may never in this life take part in.  So I can see how Mother's Day can be very depressing for you.  But I hope that you to can find a way to enjoy this day in the future!

Now onto the reasons why I love Mother's Day.  I love Mother's Day for many reasons and here they are.  I love first, the way my husband makes it a very special day for me.  He does so much to make me feel like the best wife, mother, and friend.  Maybe that shouldn't be first, but it is and I am OK with that. 

Second, I love to look at my children and hold them and realize that God has blessed me with three beautiful, healthy children who I love dearly.  In these quite times I want to be more than I am for their sakes.  I reflect in on myself and find the will and strength to push harder than I am, so that these little ones can have what should be theirs. 

Third, I get to praise my Grandma, my husband's Grandmother, my Mom and my Mother in-law for the wonderful women they are.  I can promise you that not one of them is perfect, but I know that someday they will become so.  An older man in my ward stated it so sweetly, he said "Once my mother passed away, she became perfect in my eyes."  I love these women dearly and I know that love will only deepen with time. 

The fourth reason I love this day, is because we get to look at strengths of women around us and throughout time.  I enjoy looking at what these women have accomplished even though their lives are and were filled with struggles.  Those are inspiring moments.

Some things I did to get ready for Mother's Day was on Saturday I cleaned my house so that when I woke up on Sunday I wouldn't be overwhelmed with mess.  This prevented me from saying I was a horrible mom, that can't even keep her house clean. 

Another thing I did, was when my husband called from the store to say he would be late because he was picking up a Mother's Day present for me, I asked him if he needed an idea because I had one for him.  He then asked what it was and I received that along with the present he had already gotten for me.  I am not saying that you should do this to get multiple gifts, but to make sure you are getting something you really want. 

One more thing I did to help my Mother's Day be more special was to buy the presents for our Mom's and Grandma's.  I took my daughter's with me and we took a long time picking out just the right thing for them.  This made it exciting for us to watch as they opened their gifts. 

The last thing I did to help get me in the right spirit of the day was to work on my thought process of Motherhood.  I was introduced to a challange of Studio 5's.  I admit I did not do every days challange, but I did do some and what I noticed was I was happier as a mother because of it.  I enjoyed looking at different mom's and realizing their strengths and throwing out their weaknesses, while realizing they did posses them.  I also liked practicing how I would tell someone my career.  I am a mother!  I thought about saying it more elaborately, but I liked the simplistic approach, said with pride.

Women who are not physical mothers, just remember that you're influence plays a very important roll.  To the children you are their leaders, teachers, friends, coaches, energy, confidant, and so much more that their mother's can not be.  I believe that your strengths are so full for a purpose.  I am amazed at those single or childless woman's talents that have been refined and expanded.  Those talents have been given for a purpose and what better purpose than to influence the younger generation.

I truly believe that if we prepare ourselves for this day we can enjoy it fully.  We know we must have Christ like love for others, but we tend to forget that we must also have Christ like love for ourselves.  We need to look at ourselves through heavens eyes.  Then we would see the magnificent women that we are!