Monday, November 22, 2010

I Simply Remember My Favorite Things and then I Don’t Feel So Bad

I completely believe in personal revelation;  I believe God knows us, is intimately involved in our lives and through His Holy Spirit will guide and direct our lives.  It’s a good thing, too, because I need His help.

Increasingly over the last few weeks, I’ve felt really frustrated with my kids because

a) they are not robots

b) they seem to have slightly different goals than I do about how to treat our stuff, how to use time, etc.

I’ve felt badly about it and have been praying for help.  I pretty much got hit over the head with that Help yesterday because

1) at church the speakers spoke about charity and loving rather than judging and being long-suffering with people who are different than you (see b above).

2) during class time, we’ve started attending the marriage class.  Instead of getting any insight into things I need to change about my marriage, I spent the entire time mutating the excellent teacher’s comments about spouses and marriages into ideas about children and mothering.

3) Ryan taught an excellent lesson for Family Home Evening on how we show Respect.  (Not super respectful when I snap and yell at the human beings in my house, is it?)

4) I listened to a Conversation with Julie Beck and her daughters and it was all about motherhood and priorities and safe havens.

5) I read Julie Beck’s talk on Priorities and Power.

I’m thinking Someone was trying to tell me something.

I got lots of ideas about how to tweak my routine and thoughts, but the main one was to Pay Attention to the Good Things They Do.   So…for the next few weeks I’m going to do one post a week where I list why they are such good children. 

Picture 040

 

We’ll start tomorrow.  Should be easy…they are pretty fabulous.

11 comments:

Carie said...

Awesome. I am going to listen to that conversation as well. I need all the help I can get.

Shirley said...

So it has been a little over EIGHT years since we hung out together and this post topic is EXACTLY what we are going through as well. Gotta love it!!! Thanks for the tips and once again showing me that I am not the only one going through these AWESOME and DIFFICULT mothering moments.

the wrath of khandrea said...

after a snippy morning with my husband, i felt frustrated over how to manage this recurring issue. more like how HE could manage the recurring issue i perceive to be his. the sacrament talks were on charity. 'nuff said, right? personal revelation. can't live without it.

Linsey said...

HF is the man. I went to Stake Conference yesterday and for the first time in 4 years my kids were so well-behaved I actually heard the talks. They were good, and obviously meant for me.

Your post a week is a good idea. You do have awesome kids!

Jeanelle said...

I loved that Conversation with Julie Beck - have listened to it twice in fact. I loved the idea of Breakfast with Books too! ;) Remember that you always have room to grow and improve but you ARE doing a great job. You know it, they know it and Heavenly Father knows it...hang in there.

Shopper Gal said...

You're kids are amazing and fabulous. They are polite, courteous, generous, loving kiddos. That just tells me they get these brilliant traits modeled from their Fun Mama & Daddy!!!

Lauren in GA said...

Thank you. Truly.

What a lovely idea to post about each child.

I want my kids to be robots...and I know it isn't fair...but I still do.

I really appreciate your example, Jessica.

Abbie said...

so loving this idea!

Cami said...

Excellent!
Good for you, Jessica!

Thinking that way helps your perspective a lot.

Yes, I was serious about the snake.

elizabeth scott said...

My Mckennah just told me to look at your cute family pictures. Sorry that I am slow to comment on them. I loved them. You guys are such a beautiful group of people. Love you. Happy Thanksgiving. I so glad Heavenly Father gave me a fun sister in law like you.

Tammy said...

I love reading posts like this from you, because they are so honest and they show me a whole different life and set of challenges. My challenge is understanding the differences with my friends and family while listening to myself and staying true to me. Dating at this age can be entirely frustrating, ups and downs and I get upset, angry, bummed at little things....and then realize my life is pretty great after all. We all struggle with the cards we have been dealt but I am pretty darn sure that you do a phenomenal job. Kudos to you for striving for self improvement when you are already pretty amazing!