Do you ever look at your child and marvel at their innocence? Do you wonder how fast the time has gone since they were babies? I do all the time. I think it’s a natural part of parenting. Yet, we often want them to grow up. I don’t know how many times I’ve thought, “Oh I can’t wait until he can walk” or “I can’t wait until she is school” or “I can’t wait until they can fix their own lunch” I say these things all. the. time. We love our kids, but raising little ones is hard. It’s time consuming, and teaching them pretty much everything they need to know about everything is exhausting.
My husband’s great aunt came over the other day with a little birthday gift for me. It was a little book by Hillary Weeks that she had picked up at Deseret Book called, “Bedtime and Naptime and Bedtime and Naptime: The Simple Joys of a Mom’s Life“. It is kind of a compilation of Hillary Weeks’ thoughts on motherhood, a couple of her favorite recipes, and some spiritual stories that are uplifting. It also came with a CD with some of her music. I had the opportunity to go to Time out for Women a few years ago where she was speaking/singing. A lot of what she shared during that event was what is in this book. But, there was one thing that I hadn’t heard before that really struck me in a way that I had never thought about before.
And, I won’t quote it verbatim, but I will paraphrase. She was sharing a story where she went to eat lunch with one of her girls. Her daughter was giggling about something that happened at recess that day, and a thought hit her all of a sudden. She realized that she would have her whole life and the next to know her daughter as an adult, but that she was given a special gift to get to know all of her children as children. Amazing to think about that way.
We believe that after we die, and are resurrected, that we will have perfect bodies, but we will be in our adult bodies in their perfect state. So, the relationships we have with our children are so precious. Getting to know a child is a true gift, because it is a stage of life that doesn’t last long. It is gone in a flash. It gave me a new perspective, and that is always a good thing. I hope I can remember the preciousness of childhood when they are also being put in time out. We’ll see.
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