Mothering with spiritual Power

So I have been thinking a lot lately about my callings, not necessarily callings such as Visiting Teaching and other types of church callings, but more like my eternal callings such as being a wife and mother. I pray every day that I will be the kind of wife and mother that my Father in Heaven wants me to be, that I can do those things each day which are pleasing unto him and will help with the eternal progression of my family.

I have been pondering a lot lately on all that my calling as a mother entails. I look at the world around us and all its evilness. I watch society crumbling and see all the moral decay and the hatred for one another all around me. At one point in my youth I decided that I was not going to bring children into this world, I was not going to subject them to the evil that was so rapidly growing.

 It did not take me long however to realize that it was up to me to bring children into this world, to raise them in truth and righteousness, because without righteous generations rising up the evil would just grow and grow. I am reminded of the scripture in 2 Nephi 2:25 "Adam fell that men might be; and men are, that they might have joy." That's what the whole plan is about. There is reason for being here, a reason for life..... JOY!!! Even in this ever changing world, that is and will always be the constant. There is joy to be found everywhere. I look to the sky and see a ray of light poking through the clouds and am reminded of the Savior coming to the Americas. That ray of light, that ray of hope is what makes this world beautiful. If we chose to see the bad all around, then it will consume us, but if we look for the good, and its really not that hard to find, then we will find that eternal joy, that reason for life itself.

"There is beauty all around, when there's love at home." That's where it starts, that's the purpose in being a mother, to show our kids that love, that true beauty, that light in a dark world. The small and simple things that make life so special. That hug from a small child, the call for mommy in the night, the bruised knee that's made better with a kiss, the artwork that covers the fridge, the little hands that find there way into yours, those are lifes greatest blessings, lifes greatest joys.

So how do we become those parents, those mothers that make life joyful, that help our children see the good that is all around? Parenthood is such a delicate tightrope of right or wrong choices. How do we know what is right for our child? Whats right for one but not right for the other? How do we punish our children for wrong choices lovingly and let them know that even though their choice was bad, they are not? So many questions each day. How do I know if I am doing the job that my Father in Heaven wants me to do? Am I being the kind of mother my Heavenly Mother is?

All these thoughts race through my mind on a regular basis and so there they were as I browsed the books at Deseret Book, and then suddenly there is was "Mothering with Spiritual Power" by Debra Sansing Woods. And there at the bottom it read "Book of Mormon Inspirations for raising a righteous family". The Book of Mormon has all the answers to lifes greatest questions, including all those I had been asking myself. Why had I not thought of this before? So I bought the book and I LOVE IT!!!! The author takes different Book of Mormon versus and applies them to motherhood. Its a very eye opening book and one that I know I will go back to time after time, it has also helped me in my reading of the scriptures. You always hear people say to apply the scriptures to your life, I have always done that. I have however only applied them to life in general, kneeling in prayer for answers to my questions, learning how to stay on the straight and narrow, righteous decision making, ect.... but I have never really thought to apply them to my sacred calling as a mother and wife, so now as I read, I see the scriptures in a whole new light.

Two scriptures that she dicusses in the book have really stood out for me:

1) "And Christ haith said: If ye will have faith in me ye shall have power to do whatsoever thing is expedient in me." - Moroni 7:33

I often pray for the strength to make it through the day. I found myself doing this even more as a pregnant mom with a toddler.... "Please help me to have the strength to keep up with Landon today." But to think that I could ask for that strength and through my faith be given it each day is a wonderful blessing. To have the strength to be a righteous mother, to have the strength to put myself in time out when I find my patience running thin, to have the strength to admit I can't do everything and sometimes need help, to have the strength to raise righteous posterity. My job as a mother is not one I have to go alone, its not one that any of us has to go alone. We have been told that we can do whatsoever is expedient in him.... wouldn't that include being a righteous mother? When we feel we don't have the strength to get on the floor and play cars (dolls), or bake a yummy snack, or even punish an unruly child with sternness and love we know where that extra boost of strength and energy can be found. What a wonderful blessing and promise we have been given..... why not act upon it?

2) "Ye will teach them to love one another, and to serve one another" - Mosiah 4:15

Again with the song "There is beauty all around, when theres love at home." That's what will change this world, that's the only way to make it better, is love. And where will that love be learned if not within the walls of our own home? The drop in school attendance, in poor grades, in the rise in crimes, for many of those people its almost to late to change, or to fix, but if it is to be done it needs to start at home.

A house of love needs to be built. A house filled with the spirit. Its not always easy and many times takes personal sacrifice to be able to create a house of love, order and where the spirit abides. How will our children learn to love and serve one another if they do not see us doing it? I can recall countless conference messages where we are told by general authorities that their greatest examples of love and service where their parents own acts of selfless love and kindness. I think that this scripture not only applies to our children loving one another but to us in our loving them. Do we always see them as Christ sees them? Do we love them with pure unbridled Christ like love? I find myself on my knees, or saying a quick prayer while going about my household duties, asking for just these things. That not only in times of joy and happiness but also in times of chaos and craziness and times when I feel like my toddler will never learn, that I will be able to see him, to see all my children, the way Christ sees them, to love them as he loves them, to know what perfect beings they are and how great their spirit is. If we don't show them that love, and show them how great they are and what a marvelous spirit they have, who will?

The world pushes them down, its hard, its not always easy, but when they are at home, it should be a refuge from all those things that threaten to harm the perfect spirit they are born with. We need to, as mothers, make sure we have built a barrier, a mot if you will, around our home to keep Babylon out and to keep the Pure love of Christ in.

There are many more wonderful, thought provoking and inspiring chapters in this book, I could go on and on, instead I will just highly encourage every wife, mother, sister, daughter of god to go out and read this book. Its something great to have in your library to read time and time again. Hopefully you too will be able to find as much inspiration as I have.