As Mothers, we don’t often see ourselves as warriors, or courageous. We sometimes feel like we are barely scraping by. Inadequate. But, we are so much more than that. Our work as mothers is divine, and one of the most important works that God has entrusted to Man. To raise His children. Teach them. Love them.
I heard President Monson share a quote that lifted me up today. It says, “Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, ‘I’ll try again tomorrow'”. This is a quote from Mary Anne Radmacher.
Yesterday, I had a particularly hard day. I woke up feeling discouraged after a very restless night’s sleep with my new baby. He was up all night long due to his tummy issues, and I was exhausted. I’ve been making a lot of changes to my diet trying to help him while I’m breastfeeding, but I felt like all I was doing was pointless. That I needed to try harder. That I should just give up. I spoke to my husband in the morning on the phone crying to him and telling him how I felt. By that evening, when he came home from work, he was surprised to see a wife that had accomplished a lot that day, and had a smile on her face. He asked me what had changed. I said nothing.
It is true, nothing had really changed from that morning. My circumstances were still the same. I was still tired. I still had an upset baby. I still had a lot on my plate to feel discouraged about. But during the course of the day, I asked for the Lord’s help a lot. I prayed several times, and asked Him to comfort me. He did. And, because of that, I was able to pick myself up, get the determination I needed to keep doing all the hard things I was doing, and do it all over again the next day. Isn’t that what motherhood is all about?
Being a Mom is by far the hardest job I’ve ever had. I venture to say that we are courageous. I’m not the only one. There are courageous women all around me too. Other Moms I know are fighting hard battles in their own homes. They have bad days too. Yet, they keep going. They work hard. And, even though we think no one is watching, or cares how hard we work. There is one very important person that is always watching. And, He cares more than we can understand. And, He knows we are courageous.