Little Boys & Little Lizards
This morning I was reminded of a learning moment I had last week: We had a Stake youth fireside, (our church held a special meeting for the youth), entitled "The Worth of Souls". What impacted me the most from that evening was internalizing the concept that our earth life is practice for the eternities. That our loving Heavenly Father has given us the opportunity to come to earth so that we could learn, so that we could "practice" for the roles we will have in the eternities. As a daughter of God, I have the opportunity to be a wife and mother for eternity. As such I will have the responsibility to nurture. The sister who spoke said, "Now is the time to practice what we will be doing for eternity. We need to learn to love our eternal responsibilities." I need to love being a wife and mother. I need to love nurturing those around me . . .
I would love to report that I was so changed by this, that I have not lost my patience or yelled at my children since then and have become instantly selfless. Alas, what has happened is I am much more aware of my mothering moments that are not so nurturing. I suppose recognizing where I need to improve is the first step on the road to improve.
One area that I need to improve is to put my to-do list aside & play side by side with my kiddos; be and do what they are doing. I am happy to report that after this morning I am feeling very improved in this area. Let me explain: After taking the kids to school this morning, Jacob and I went for a short walk and then rather than cleaning the house, putting the laundry away or making phone calls we went in the backyard to play. I saw a little tiny lizard on the patio and pointed it out to Jacob. He was so excited to see the little lizard scurry around, but not so excited that it kept scurrying away from him and hiding.
I noticed a second little lizard in the dirt and pointed it out, to Jacob's delight. This one did not move so fast, he did not run so well because he had mud caked all over his front feet. I had a crazy thought . . . catch it! I had never tried to catch a lizard before let alone held one and didn't really want to. But the smile on Jacob's face gave me the desire and courage to try. After a few attempts this little lizard was crawling over my hands and almost up my arm. I quickly transferred it to Jacob's little fingers, only to have Jacob throw it on the ground. Not because he didn't like it, but because the movements of the lizard startled him. To my misfortune Jacob wanted to hold the lizard again, and thus began our game of catch and release; and a feeling that for this small moment I was doing something to nurture my sweet little boy.
Unfortunately this poor lizard was scared to death after being thrown to the ground multiple times and dunked in the water tub. His life ended abruptly when Jacob threw him to the ground for one last time and then stomped on him with his foot. Jacob was so proud, as if he had stomped on a bubble, but was quickly saddened when the lizard no longer moved. The game was over!
After lunch I spotted a third little lizard for the morning on the screen of the kitchen window. I pointed it out to Jacob, who immediately ran outside and began tapping on the screen to see the lizard move. We eventually caught this one too . . .
My love for this little boy grew as I selflessly assisted & watched him discover, problem solve, and joyfullytorture play with this little creature. Who knew I would be learning what is means to nurture by catching lizards?
I would love to report that I was so changed by this, that I have not lost my patience or yelled at my children since then and have become instantly selfless. Alas, what has happened is I am much more aware of my mothering moments that are not so nurturing. I suppose recognizing where I need to improve is the first step on the road to improve.
One area that I need to improve is to put my to-do list aside & play side by side with my kiddos; be and do what they are doing. I am happy to report that after this morning I am feeling very improved in this area. Let me explain: After taking the kids to school this morning, Jacob and I went for a short walk and then rather than cleaning the house, putting the laundry away or making phone calls we went in the backyard to play. I saw a little tiny lizard on the patio and pointed it out to Jacob. He was so excited to see the little lizard scurry around, but not so excited that it kept scurrying away from him and hiding.
I noticed a second little lizard in the dirt and pointed it out, to Jacob's delight. This one did not move so fast, he did not run so well because he had mud caked all over his front feet. I had a crazy thought . . . catch it! I had never tried to catch a lizard before let alone held one and didn't really want to. But the smile on Jacob's face gave me the desire and courage to try. After a few attempts this little lizard was crawling over my hands and almost up my arm. I quickly transferred it to Jacob's little fingers, only to have Jacob throw it on the ground. Not because he didn't like it, but because the movements of the lizard startled him. To my misfortune Jacob wanted to hold the lizard again, and thus began our game of catch and release; and a feeling that for this small moment I was doing something to nurture my sweet little boy.
Unfortunately this poor lizard was scared to death after being thrown to the ground multiple times and dunked in the water tub. His life ended abruptly when Jacob threw him to the ground for one last time and then stomped on him with his foot. Jacob was so proud, as if he had stomped on a bubble, but was quickly saddened when the lizard no longer moved. The game was over!
After lunch I spotted a third little lizard for the morning on the screen of the kitchen window. I pointed it out to Jacob, who immediately ran outside and began tapping on the screen to see the lizard move. We eventually caught this one too . . .
My love for this little boy grew as I selflessly assisted & watched him discover, problem solve, and joyfully
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