A few weeks ago, Miriam wrote a great blog on ‘example families’ – those families in the ward who do a stellar job with family prayer, family scripture study, and so forth. As I read her entry, I started a comment that expressed how impressed I was with such families, and then basically said, “As a mom of four young kids, I often wonder just how these families do it.” I never even submitted that comment because, as I thought about it, I realized that I do, in fact, know how they accomplish this task.
It’s all about priorities. These families have obviously decided that family scripture study is a priority. It is important to them. On the nights when I want to throw in the towel because my four year old is worn out and ready for bed, my two year old is tantruming for the same cause, and my newborn is ready to eat NOW, not in ten minutes, these same families determine that scripture study still takes priority. Perhaps they even decided that it was such a priority for it, they would do it first thing in the morning, just to be sure it would get done – even if Mommy is more of a night owl than a morning person.
Perhaps the moms in this family struggled with the same difficulties I do with family home evening – the joy of doing 90% of the work myself. Uh, herself. Themselves. Whichever. My husband is on the road six days a week, and sometimes doesn’t come home Monday nights until after the kids are in bed. I realized that I have allowed that to be a license to make excuses. We often have just skipped over FHE. No more!
After reading Miriam’s blog, and realizing that I need to make my priorities come first, and not just let them happen (or, more often, not happen), I sat down and made a list of what was most important. First (I decided), was my relationship with Heavenly Father. Subheadings on that were personal scripture study and personal prayer, two things that I’ve tried to do regularly but struggled with, whatwith all the….excuses. Next up, family. For me, that means a few primary subheadings – family scripture study, family prayer, FHE, and getting down on the floor for a few minutes each day to play with my kids – something I don’t do enough of. Third came my callings, currently two official, one unofficial (thankfully, being Relief Society chorister doesn’t require any nonSunday preparation). Then, fourth on the list come my blogging! Sorry ya’ll are so low, but that’s the breaks! I then posted that list where I could see it, on my bedroom door, and use that visual cue to help me stay on task.
Since accomplishing this task, I’m proud to say my family is more on track. We’ve held family scripture study more regularly, and I’m in the process of shifting it to morning study instead of evening study. My hope is to start getting my night owl self out of bed even on the days my husband gets up at (groan) 4:30. We have had FHE both weeks since the blog was posted; the first week was my daughter’s birthday, so we went to an amusement park, and we held this week’s FHE on Sunday night instead of Monday, so that my husband could attend. I’ve decided that we’ll still hope for Monday, but if he’s going to be out of town, Sunday it is!
Has this been easier? Absolutely not! We’re currently throwing a cranky, early-rising mommy into the middle of everything, and still working out the kinks! But mommy is working on not being so grumpy, and I’m confident the problems will smooth out, at least by the time my newborn is 18. I’m also confident that we are building habits that will continue when my kids are older and participating.
In the meantime, I have the lesson next week, so I guess I should start preparing!
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