Spring Planting

                              

I often joke with my two youngest sons by asking if they will stay little forever. "Will you be the one who doesn't grow up on me?" They laughingly protest, "No! I'm already big!" It is our little game and I hope they understand just how much I love them being little.

As I see all five of my children growing, I am sometimes a little bit serious about not wanting them to rush to grow up. Each day is a little more precious, because of the reality of its temporary nature.
But lately, I have been coming to terms with the fact that my children are not so little anymore. I am no longer in the season of life that includes diapers (yay!) and constantly having a little person in my arms. And some days my arms feel so empty, but I look at our very full calendar and am not sad for long.

I have traded nap time for homework and music lessons, and do you know what? I am okay with it, or I am at least becoming okay with it. This is not because I am rushing for the days of young motherhood to end, but because this next season of life is pretty wonderful too.  My children are busy discovering their individual talents and abilities, and I am so blessed to be on this journey with them.

I have been impressed several times lately that what is happening in the lives of my older children, good things like National Honor Society, being able to play the organ at church, and being worthy and ready to serve others at the temple, is a fruit of seeds that were planted long ago. I do not regret a single hour we spent reading aloud or playing outside together. Not a single imperfect Family Home Evening was wasted. No moment of eye contact and sincere teaching was done in vain. Not a moment wasted, but instead those intentional interactions were seeds.

My years of young motherhood were spent planting those seeds and nurturing our sprouting children. While not perfect, I tried my best to seek out the best plants and pull out the weeds. For us, some of the best things we chose to cultivate were family prayer each night, a daily devotional each morning, and letting our new readers stumble through verses of scripture. We also encouraged our children to pursue the study of music and to read as much as possible,  those have been blessings to our family.

Of course there have been and still are weeds that pop up in the form of distractions. While not every weed can be pulled, we have tried to avoid letting those distractions take over our time and strangle our good pursuits.  We set limits on distractions like television and social media, because we do not want them to become stronger influences in our family than the things that matter most.  For each family, these distraction might be different. But it is valuable to identify them and not let them take over.

This realization has only fueled my desire to truly invest myself into being connected to the things that matter most: my individual family members, my own spirituality, and my ability to serve those around me. These are the things I am focusing on this year and that I know I will not regret. My daily actions are the seeds I am currently planting.  I think I need to constantly evaluate what is a weed and what is desirable.