These are
the things on my mind right now, thoughts swirling around, intertwining, and
fighting for my attention…
I read a
quote today from President Hinckley: "We
should work at our responsibility as parents as if everything in life counted
on it, because in fact everything in life does count on it.”
This thought underscores something I
have been thinking about lately. I am
not a terrible parent, and in some ways I am a fabulous mom. But in other ways, I stink. I lack self control at times and yell –
something my own parents never did!
Often, I find myself simply not knowing the wise way to handle a
situation, or what kind of consequence would actually teach my kids what they
need to learn. The whole goal is to
guide and teach them to become capable, successful, emotionally intelligent,
hard-working, responsible, respectful adults, right? Just like any other parent, I want to give
them the best of what my parents gave me, and much more. I want them to be better prepared for life
than I was in certain areas. I want them
to want to do the right things for the right reasons. But I often find myself at a loss. How do I handle this situation, or that
one? And more often than not, I don’t
have time to think it through or even ponder it, because there are 50 million
things pulling for my attention – things and people that cannot be neglected! However, in light of this quote from
President Hinckley, I feel that I must focus myself more on improving my mom
skills and tuning myself into the real needs of my children. I guess I have never been great at
multi-tasking. It comes naturally to
some, but not to me. How do I
concentrate on so many vital things?
Impossible. However, I WILL make
this a higher priority.
Another thing on my mind – health. I started to make significant progress in
2013, but lately have dropped the ball.
We’re not all sitting around eating twinkies, mind you, or even eating
fast food. But I know this is an area
where I have been slacking – not out of laziness, but maybe out of
exhaustion! I can do better.
I want to be prepared. Self sufficient. We are so far away from this goal in almost
every conceivable way, although I suppose we are better off than many because
of the small preparations that we have already made. I just don’t know where to begin. It is
absolutely overwhelming to me! One of
the most significant dilemmas I face in this realm is food storage. Food that stores well is mostly crap – or at
least lower quality than what I want to feed my family. I am ok with us all living on sub-par food in
an emergency situation! The problem is
that you are supposed to rotate the food…and eat it regularly. What to do?
Order and organization have never been
my fortes. But it is slightly ridiculous
how much organizing (and cleaning) I really need to do. Why am I typing this right now? Good question. I need to get my buns off the computer and
start cleaning like a mad woman while the baby is asleep! My problem in this area is that I never seem
to manage more than the bare minimum. IF
I am able to keep the kitchen clean, the floor semi-vacuumed, and all the stuff
put away, or mostly put away (including laundry) – even for just a short while
- that is a small miracle. So I never really make it to the organizing,
because I never get past the cleaning first!
Deep cleaning is preceded by surface cleaning, right? I literally do not know how I will ever make
progress on cleaning out the garage, or even just a closet, when it takes all
of my best efforts to simply “maintain.”
These are just the largest, most
pressing concerns on my mind. There are
at least a hundred more, not the least of which is this decaying society. And I am so incredibly concerned about our
freedoms being snatched away…because our government is absolutely, unabashedly,
out of control! I want to do
something to fight it! But I literally
have no clue what to do…and the aforementioned responsibilities weigh so
heavily on my mind that there is no room for more.
Keeping one’s head above water is a
full time job, especially when you want to create the best for your
family. The best health, education,
knowledge, spiritual understanding, purpose and happiness – the pursuit of these
things for those you love most literally requires all of your focus and
energy. In fact, it requires more than
your best. You need God’s help. And I suppose that is what this all comes
down to. I will not be swept away by the
tide of my own overwhelm caused by innumerable to-do lists! And I will not be swept away by my own
feelings of inadequacy in the face of so many solemn responsibilities! I will live deliberately. I will push forward and not waver in my
determination to create the life the Lord expects me to live and create for my
children!
However, we need each other. I need your ideas and suggestions, and I
suppose I may have something to offer that you need too. So please, share your
insights about any of the above mentioned concerns… I would greatly appreciate
it.
