About two weeks ago I had the opportunity to teach Quincy about the power of prayer.
As a mother I know that this is one of my greatest and sole responsibilities, to teach my children the best things, to help them gain strong testimonies of the gospel, and prepare them on their way back to our Heavenly father. However, there are days when I'm tired, stressed, worn out, or other wise preoccupied with the everyday tasks of motherhood.
I suppose one of the greatest tricks the devil uses on mothers is distraction. Most days I'm distracted by my children, other days I'm distracted by my household responsibilities, and there are days still when I'm distracted by my church callings and so forth.... The majority of these things aren't necessarily terrible things, but the sum of all of them leads me further from the MOST important things I should be focusing on, like my children's spiritual welfare. I often get caught up in the little details of running my home that I forget to consciously make an effort to SEARCH for opportunities to teach my children gospel principles in the home.
I did, however, manage to remember this goal of mine two weeks ago. It was one of those days where I was stressed to the max and totally burnt out! The boys were wearing me down slowly, but surely as the day progressed. I hadn't slept at all that night and Tyler didn't get home until late in the evening. My boys were so spoiled this year at Christmas, they got so many new toys and I have been stressing the importance of taking care of ALL of our new things (toys included) so we can continue to enjoy and play with them.
Well in the late evening of this particular day Quincy was supposed to be picking up his toys in his room while I was making dinner so we could eat when Tyler came home from work. He ran into the kitchen to inform me he couldn't find 2 of the clock pieces from the wooden clock he got from Christmas. I told him to look harder. So he went back in his room only to come out once more and inform me he STILL couldn't find the pieces. Finally, exasperated I said, "Fine! I'll look." And look I did.... and FIND I didn't! I was frustrated that he had been careless enough to lose these pieces to a toy he JUST got for Christmas. After taking a short minute to check dinner I had the prompting that this situation was a teaching opportunity.
I gathered Quincy into his room and we knelt together on the floor, folding our arms and bowing our heads. I explained to him: "Quincy, we don't know where the pieces are and we've looked everywhere for them, but Heavenly Father knows EVERYTHING and he can help us find them." I asked Quincy to help me with the prayer and together with my sweet 3 year old son we gave the most simplest of prayers: "Heavenly Father, we are thankful for our new toys. We're thankful for our home. Please help us to know where to look so we can find the pieces to our new toy. Amen."
After we finished praying I could feel the spirit resume back inside my heart, as previous to the prayer I was feeling quite frustrated. I said to Quincy, "First we need to think about where we were playing with the toy and then Heavenly Father will help us find the missing pieces." So Quincy retraced his steps with me and then I had a small prompting to look inside a toy tractor and as I did I found the missing pieces.
I pulled them out and said, "LOOK Quincy!" His eyes were huge, his smile was full and he exclaimed with the most happiest heart, "Heavenly Father helped us find the missing pieces!"
It was a moment as a mother I will treasure forever... the feelings I felt and the testimony I was able to witness in my 3 year old son's eyes that Heavenly Father ANSWERS prayers.
I can only hope that as my boys age their testimonies will continue to grow and as their mother I will be able to search out for those important teaching moments.
As a mother I know that this is one of my greatest and sole responsibilities, to teach my children the best things, to help them gain strong testimonies of the gospel, and prepare them on their way back to our Heavenly father. However, there are days when I'm tired, stressed, worn out, or other wise preoccupied with the everyday tasks of motherhood.
I suppose one of the greatest tricks the devil uses on mothers is distraction. Most days I'm distracted by my children, other days I'm distracted by my household responsibilities, and there are days still when I'm distracted by my church callings and so forth.... The majority of these things aren't necessarily terrible things, but the sum of all of them leads me further from the MOST important things I should be focusing on, like my children's spiritual welfare. I often get caught up in the little details of running my home that I forget to consciously make an effort to SEARCH for opportunities to teach my children gospel principles in the home.
I did, however, manage to remember this goal of mine two weeks ago. It was one of those days where I was stressed to the max and totally burnt out! The boys were wearing me down slowly, but surely as the day progressed. I hadn't slept at all that night and Tyler didn't get home until late in the evening. My boys were so spoiled this year at Christmas, they got so many new toys and I have been stressing the importance of taking care of ALL of our new things (toys included) so we can continue to enjoy and play with them.
Well in the late evening of this particular day Quincy was supposed to be picking up his toys in his room while I was making dinner so we could eat when Tyler came home from work. He ran into the kitchen to inform me he couldn't find 2 of the clock pieces from the wooden clock he got from Christmas. I told him to look harder. So he went back in his room only to come out once more and inform me he STILL couldn't find the pieces. Finally, exasperated I said, "Fine! I'll look." And look I did.... and FIND I didn't! I was frustrated that he had been careless enough to lose these pieces to a toy he JUST got for Christmas. After taking a short minute to check dinner I had the prompting that this situation was a teaching opportunity.
I gathered Quincy into his room and we knelt together on the floor, folding our arms and bowing our heads. I explained to him: "Quincy, we don't know where the pieces are and we've looked everywhere for them, but Heavenly Father knows EVERYTHING and he can help us find them." I asked Quincy to help me with the prayer and together with my sweet 3 year old son we gave the most simplest of prayers: "Heavenly Father, we are thankful for our new toys. We're thankful for our home. Please help us to know where to look so we can find the pieces to our new toy. Amen."
After we finished praying I could feel the spirit resume back inside my heart, as previous to the prayer I was feeling quite frustrated. I said to Quincy, "First we need to think about where we were playing with the toy and then Heavenly Father will help us find the missing pieces." So Quincy retraced his steps with me and then I had a small prompting to look inside a toy tractor and as I did I found the missing pieces.
I pulled them out and said, "LOOK Quincy!" His eyes were huge, his smile was full and he exclaimed with the most happiest heart, "Heavenly Father helped us find the missing pieces!"
It was a moment as a mother I will treasure forever... the feelings I felt and the testimony I was able to witness in my 3 year old son's eyes that Heavenly Father ANSWERS prayers.
I can only hope that as my boys age their testimonies will continue to grow and as their mother I will be able to search out for those important teaching moments.
4 comments:
Glad you could write this down. Keep up the great work. You a super Mom!
Love,
Grammie
very cute.
Awww -brings tears to my eyes. What a wonderful moment.
LOVE this! What a great teaching moment!! You are awesome!
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