It’s possible that I’m the only one who has recurring “Bad Mom Days.”
But I doubt it.
Goals are wonderful things, but they don’t always pan out like we intend them to. (That’s code for: Sometimes we downright fail.) I don’t know if you’ve seen President Monson’s New Year’s message or not, but one paragraph at the end of it has been rolling around in my mind a lot this week. It’s a great reminder that new years are great, but new days are even better, and trying again and again and again is what keeps us on the right track.
Courage is required to make an initial thrust toward one’s coveted goal, but even greater courage is called for when one stumbles and must make a second effort to achieve.
Have the determination to make the effort, the single-mindedness to work toward a worthy goal, and the courage not only to face the challenges that inevitably come but also to make a second effort, should such be required. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says, “I’ll try again tomorrow.”
That little voice is a true friend because it points us toward the Atonement, repentance, forgiveness, and starting over.
So imagine me riding on my horse on the battlefield of motherhood waving my banner and shouting to all the mother masses, “Courage!” (That just means get up again tomorrow and try again. You’re doing better all the time.) Or I guess all that imagination really isn’t necessary if you just listen to the prophet instead. Yep, probably better to do that. Because me on a horse is kind of a stupid idea.
I might get a banner anyway.
If anyone has a link to President Monson’s talk (It’s called “Living the Abundant Life”), feel free to paste it in the comments so others can read it. It’s a good one. My dad sent me a copy by email, but I haven’t found it online yet.
Diapers and Divinity 
http://lds.org/ensign/2012/01/living-the-abundant-life?lang=eng {First Presidency Message for the January 2012 Ensign}
I like your image of riding a horse, waving a banner, calling “Courage!”. Reminds me of Joan of Arc. 🙂 We can each be our own Joan of Arcs for our families can’t we?
Well, that was easy. The Ensign for January, huh? *sheepish grin*.
That same quote has been tumbling around my head ever since I read it in this month’s Ensign earlier this week. Love it! It has given me a lot of motivation.
P.S. Have you seen this yet? I thought of you when I read it 🙂 !! http://momastery.com/blog/2012/01/04/2011-lesson-2-dont-carpe-diem/
You’re right. That IS a great post. I felt like she and I have twin voices or something. 🙂
Wow, he is a prophet. He knows in the latter-days men’s (and mom’s) hearts will fail them. He knows we need to know how to have courage to become what God would have us be. I needed to read that this morning.
I LOVE the image of you “riding on my horse on the battlefield of motherhood waving my banner and shouting to all the mother masses, “Courage!” ” AWESOME!! 🙂
Thanks for the this post, it makes me feel happy. My first quarter (yes, quarter) of college, my Mom sent me a care package right before finals with a great quote: You never fail until you stop trying. It has always helped me not to be so hard on myself AND not to quit.
P.S. I was thinking of Eowyn from Lord of the Rings, “I am NO man!!!!!!”
Courage! And on the the victory!
I see you all over my blogging circles, but for some reason (probably having to do with a lack of time) I’ve never stopped in to meet you. 🙂 Nice to meet you.
I wrote about this on my personal blog, because I read a lot of things on facebook concerning people’s goals and how they wish people would give up on the gym goal faster so they could have their treadmills back. I had written about New Years resolutions in my journal one night, and shared my thoughts:
“So I already missed one day of studying my scriptures this year. I think the biggest mistake that people make in their resolutions is not “not” doing them, but not keeping at it when they’ve “messed up” their goal. This goes for anything in life. We can never be perfect in the goals we make, but we can try. And the effort we put forth is what matters most!”
What Satan wants is for us to forget that we *can* start over when we’ve messed up. And that, in the end, its ok if you mess up every now and then. My quote that I shared was, “If, at first you don’t succeed, dust yourself off and try again.” Its true for all people, because none of us are ever perfect at keeping our goals 100% perfectly. This is what the Atonement is about: fixing our mistakes when we fall short. And to give up completely is so against what we believe. We should remember that we can always repent and be better from that point forward.