live in the moment...

This past general conference Elder M Russell Ballard's address was entitled Daughters of God. He spoke to both women and men about the family and about the roles of individuals within a family. Elder Ballard said, "I surely know that there is no role in life more essential and more eternal than that of motherhood." We are taught in the Book of Mormon the great impact that the mothers of Helaman's 2060 stripling warriors had upon them. In Alma 56:47-48 we read; "yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it."

I too do not doubt that my mother knows what she taught me to be true. And in turn I have no doubts that God will deliver me. Now it is my turn with my wife to teach our children to "walk in truth" (3rd John 1:4) One thing that we are working on with our little Copper Top is to teach him to pray. " Prayer is a form of work, and is an appointed means for obtaining the highest of all blessings." (bible dictionary: prayer) We want our son and eventually children to be able to obtain "the highest of all blessings."

The first time Noah said "amen" after we had blessed dinner, the cheerleader in Sonya came out like I have never seen before. She clapped and did a little jump, or maybe more like a hop, and exclaimed cheerfully "Yes, you did it." with just about the biggest smile I have ever seen her express.

Back to Elder Ballard's talk, He quoted a woman named Anna Quindlen who wrote, "The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less”(Loud and Clear [2004], 10–11).

I have been trying to do this as well. And one of those moments that slows down for me and allows me to relish it a bit more than I could if I didn't consciously focus on the moment is when Noah joins us in prayer. The time it takes for us to say prayers is short with him because he doesn't understand all the words and what we are really doing, but the memory lasts long after the prayer is finished. I hope to always be able to slow the moments down that mean the most, and a prayer with my son means the world to me...