To Be The Best Parent

Recently, I was having one of those spells where I thought I was doing a sub par job as a mother.  (I am just assuming that many other mothers have those feelings at one time or another.)  On one particular evening, as I went to my bedroom to retire for the night, I noticed some papers tied up with ribbon and a handwritten note on my pillow.  It was from my daughter. The following is an excerpt from that note:  “Hi Mommy!  I read this talk for Personal Progress…….and it made me think of you……….You are an amazing mother, whether you realize it or not.  You may not feel like it, but you’ve taught me a lot.  No one expects perfection from you.  You’re doing a great job. Thank you so much for being spectacular you.  I love you!”

The talk she was referring to is by Elder Holland entitled,
“Because She Is A Mother”.  In this talk, one mother wrote, “I am deeply moved that God finds His ultimate purpose and meaning in being a parent, even if some of His children make Him weep.  It is this realization that I try to recall on those inevitably difficult days when all of this can be a bit overwhelming.  Maybe it is precisely our inability and anxiousness that urge us to reach out to Him and enhance His ability to reach back to us.     Maybe He secretly hopes we WILL be anxious and WILL plead for His help.  Then, I believe, He can teach these children directly, through us, but with no resistance offered.  I like that idea.  It gives me hope.  If I can be right before my Father in Heaven, perhaps His guidance to our children can be unimpeded.  Maybe then it can be His work and His glory in a very literal sense.”

Elder Holland says in this talk the same thing my daughter was trying to tell me, “In the name of the Lord, you are magnificent.  You are doing terrifically well.  The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you.  He knows that your giving birth to a child does not immediately propel you into the circle of the omniscient.  If you and your husband will strive to love God and live the gospel yourselves; if you will plead for that guidance and comfort of the Holy Spirit promised to the faithful; if you will go to the temple to both make and claim the promises of the most sacred covenants a woman or man can make in this world; if you will show others, including your children, the same caring, compassionate, forgiving heart you want heaven to show you; if you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do.”

I feel to wish you all an early “Happy Mother’s Day”.  You are doing better than you think you are!