Moments like this are what make me love being a Mom. He goes on to say, “I might be kind of shy though.” I smile and respond, “Well, I bet you will think, ‘Hey! I know you!’ when you see him and you won’t feel so shy anymore.” I can tell he is thinking about that. And, so am I.
You see, just the day before that was general conference. I remember feeling excited for the spiritual nourishment that I was going to receive. I got up that morning and we were all dressed with teeth brushed before it started. Impressive huh? A few minutes before, I raced down to my computer and found a few ideas on Pinterest to keep them busy.
Coloring pages, word finds, and general conference bingo. “Perfect”, I thought. I set the 6 and 4 year old up at the dining room table as the choir was singing the first song. The baby would have been all over them on the floor.
Things went great for a while. They were excited to find words on their bingo pages, and color in the ties of the apostles, but the excitement wore off. Pretty soon, they were climbing on Daddy on the floor trying to wrestle, talking incessantly, and I felt like I had only heard one talk. I felt discouraged. “Am I ever going to get something out of General Conference again?” I thought. Luckily, we record them and watch them later. Usually one talk a night until we get through the entire conference as a couple. Sometimes it takes us almost another six months.
Not too long after I was having that negative thought, my six year old crawls into my lap. As we are sitting there listening to the closing song she says, “This whole time we’ve been listening to General Conference, I’ve felt the spirit.” That helped to put things into perspective.
So many times I feel discouraged about motherhood. It’s the hardest job I’ve ever done. It comes with many ups and downs, and many times makes me feel inadequate. But, then my kids will say something to me that lets me know that I’m doing enough. We can’t be perfect at this motherhood thing, or anything else for that matter. We shouldn’t expect that, and we shouldn’t try to make those around us think we are perfect either. What the Lord expects is that we are enough.
We try hard. We make mistakes. We admit them. We try again. That’s what motherhood is all about. It’s not about being able to keep your child from screaming out in sacrament meeting, “I want more bread!” or “I hate church!” It’s about being consistent, putting forth the effort, and accepting that doing enough is exactly what is expected. Nothing more, nothing less.
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Meredith is a mother of 3 that is all about trying to be “real” when it comes to motherhood after years of trying to fake perfection. But, it’s the hardest job she’s ever done. She loves blogging about all the perfect and not so perfect moments on her blog, Faking Picture Perfect.
