Category Archives: Divinity

The spiritual side of motherhood.

Beauty, self-esteem, and laugh-out-loud hilarity

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I love Dave Barry.  Have you ever read any of his stuff?  He is FUNNY.  At Women’s Conference, Renata Forste gave a really, really good talk (click here to read it), wherein she quoted this Dave Barry column exploring the differences between the ways that men and women measure and value appearances.  It was so funny that I may have laughed a little bit over-the-top irreverently.

If you’re a man, at some point a woman will ask you how she looks.  “How do I look?” she’ll ask.  You must be careful how you answer this question.  The best technique is to form an honest yet sensitive opinion, then collapse on the floor with some kind of fatal seizure. Trust me, this is the easiest way out.  Because you will never come up with the right answer.

The problem is that women generally do not think of their looks in the same way that men do.  Most men form an opinion of how they look in seventh grade, and they stick to it for the rest of their lives.  Some men form the opinion that they are irresistible stud muffins, and they do not change this opinion even when their faces sag and their noses bloat to the size of eggplants . . . . Continue reading →

If a blogger falls down in a forest of bloggers, does she have a voice?

Posted in About Blogs, Diapers, Divinity by

I haven’t been producing many quality posts lately, and I have no real reasons except that life has seemed a little busy.  And when life is busy, my brain goes a tiny bit frenzied and most of the stuff I have to say is barely comprehensible, much less inspirational.

Oh, I did start taking a Zumba class at my gym.  It’s an exercise class that’s kind of a cross between latin dancing (which I love, mostly because I really like latin music) and jazzercise (or whatever those dancy-type cardio workout classes are called).  Anyway, it’s kind of fun even though it makes muscles that I’ve never even met before cry out in pain for several days at a time.  And it’s also fun if you don’t consider the fact that I look like the biggest, most ridiculous, uncoordinated fool this side of the Tex-Mex border.  Continue reading →

Poetry tiara, and a little laundry inspiration.

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Congratulations to the winner of the poetry contest:  MaryAnn!  Her laundry limerick won almost 50% of the votes, and several people asked permission to hang it up in their laundry rooms.  🙂

It’s a blessing to do everyday,
To serve my family this way.
I have to repeat it
Until I believe it,
For laundry will not go away.

And for her masterpiece, MaryAnn wins this lovely crown and a spot of honor on my sidebar over there —–>

For your own inspiration, here are a few quotes I found about laundry:

If you are still in the process of raising children, be aware that the tiny fingerprints that show up on almost every newly cleaned surface, the toys scattered about the house, the piles and piles of laundry to be tackled will disappear all too soon and that you will—to your surprise—miss them profoundly.  — Thomas S. Monson

“How in the world can I do everything I know I should be doing when I am barely managing the basic tasks of my day?” I wondered. By early evening I was exhausted, but I set aside discouraging thoughts during dinner, family home evening, and the boys’ bath and bedtime routine.

Finally, with the children in bed, I sat down to do what I had not had time for earlier. I picked up the May 2006 Ensign, which was open to a talk by President Henry B. Eyring titled “As a Child.” My eyes fell on a passage I had previously marked: “To keep the blessing of [changed natures] in our hearts will require determination, effort, and faith. King Benjamin taught at least some of what that will require. He said that to retain a remission of our sins from day to day we must feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and help people spiritually and temporally” (Liahona and Ensign, May 2006, 17).

Immediately, I again felt that I wasn’t living the gospel fully. I wondered, “How can I feed the hungry, clothe the naked, visit the sick, and help people spiritually and temporally when I can scarcely take care of my own family?”

That’s when I experienced an overwhelming feeling of divine approval. It was so clear, precise, and tangible that I knew I had to write it down so I wouldn’t forget. I could see my day replay in my mind—full of feeding the hungry, doing laundry to clothe the naked (I changed Caden’s outfit multiple times), gently caring for our sick baby, helping our five-year-old prepare a family home evening lesson on missionary work, and then discussing the power of example with my family—in other words, helping people spiritually and temporally.  — Carolynn Spencer

Try to think of the unexciting tasks not by themselves, but in terms of their larger significance. As she matches socks on laundry day, a woman might say to herself, “I’m overqualified for this job. My family scarcely even realizes this work goes on. It’s trivial.” But doing the laundry and cleaning the house leads to a greater end than simply clean socks and dusted furniture. Put small tasks into the framework of their larger goal. … Enjoying life is often more a matter of adopting the right perspective and so living that you experience peace at the center of your soul. Real excitement is knowing that, whatever your tasks, you have the Lord’s approval and love.  —Karen Davidson

Small victories and normal failures: a few days in the life of a [super]mom

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(Let’s just admit up front that the word super has a completely different definition for every kind of mom.  In my case, it means getting 2 or more items done on my to-do list.  For those of you who didn’t know that such a feat propelled you to superhuman status, you’re welcome.)

I went to Women’s Conference last week, but rather than bore you with all the details of everything I learned (I mean right now.  Of course I will bore you with them later.), it suffices to say that I walked away with a strengthened testimony of God’s complete awareness of me, myself, and my needs, AND a greater desire to find more joy in my mission– to love the things God loves.

(THANK you to those of you who met up with me for lunch or dinner while I was there.  It makes me happy to surround myself with good friends leading good lives.  In a world where one can sometimes feel like she’s the lone whackadoodle fighting to do what’s right, there’s a lot of comfort in knowing and being surrounded by like-minded women.)

Maybe my posts would be more readable if they didn’t always have a seven-paragraph introduction/disclaimer/random-thought-dump.  Whatever, I’m sure you’ve figured out how to skim by now.

Anyway.  Guess what?  I started going back to the gym every morning at 6 a.m., and by every, I mean Monday through Friday, but it makes me sound very dedicated if I just say every.  This in and of itself is actually something I’m quite proud of because it helps me to start my day, as opposed to letting my day start me (like when I wake up to the sound of my children spilling oatmeal or other abominations).  I’m not sure, but I think it’s been a little over three weeks now, which almost means I can claim it as a real habit.  I don’t know what the rules are about that, but I feel like I’m close.  So this new gym things is cool, but that’s not what I really wanted to write about.  One thing I hate about the gym is their music video channel that’s always pumped into the gym via two televisions front and center of the exercise room.  It’s their own channel, and it feeds the audio that’s heard throughout the gym.  I’ll make the story short:  It seems like at least 50% of music videos are soft porn (some not-so-soft).  It used to bug me before my I’m-feeling-lazy-and-seasonally-depressed hiatus from the gym, but I noticed it again right away upon my return, so I decided to do something about it.  I complained before and they blew me off saying “it’s a corporate decision, not ours.”  I wrote a letter to the corporate office and explained my complaint in my normal kind and gentle way (like “I don’t see any indication in [your] corporate goal statement that in addition to fueling [your members’] bodies and minds, you’re also trying to collectively fuel their libido..”) and mailed it off.

WELL.  I got a phone call yesterday from the corporate office telling me that they were immediately removing the specific videos that I had mentioned, and that they are working on switching over the entire content to more appropriate material that better promotes their ideals of a healthy lifestyle.  Oh, and apparently they went through the 400 videos they were given from whatever company produces their TV streaming and requested to remove 25% of them– 100 videos!  I thanked them for their acknowledgment and response to my letter.  And then of course I called up one of my girlfriends and bragged about it.  How cool is that?!  I can’t help but think of Sister Elaine Dalton’s claim:

“I truly believe that one virtuous young woman or young man, led by the Spirit, can change the world, but in order to do so, we must return to virtue.”

I tell you this so that you sit at your computer completely flabbergasted by my overwhelming awesomeness realize how easy it is to make a difference.

“[A woman with a mother heart] knows that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily mothering is far more lasting, far more powerful, far more influential than any earthly position or institution invented by man.”  (Sister Beck)

Some of you may remember that about a year ago, I started working on a project called the Protecting Innocence Project. I just want to reassure those of you who contributed to the development of it with your research and writing that it IS still under construction and will be forthcoming, hopefully soon.  The content is completely done and I’m just waiting on some of the web development that I can’t do on my own.  I didn’t want you to think I’d let the whole thing fall through the cracks or make you feel like your contribution was a waste.  It WILL happen, I promise.

Well, darn-it, my post already got way too long.  I’ll just save my breath and make you a list of the rest of the victories and failures I was going to mention.  I’m sure you can figure out which is which.

  1. Cashed out our budget this month to MAKE ourselves not overspend.  Hard, but rewarding.  (Today in the grocery checkout line Clark almost asked for something, but stopped himself and said, “I  know, mom, we should buy what we need and not what we want.  If we buy what we want, we won’t have enough money left for the stuff we need.”
  2. I think I’ve already put about 4 pairs of wet or soiled size 4T underwear in the laundry today.  Probably 15 in the last 3 days.  Just when I thought I was done with diapers.
  3. Ants in our kitchen.  Where are they coming from?
  4. I was trying to save up money because preschool in the fall will probably be at least $100/month.  Happened to talk to a friend of a friend of a friend who helped me find a preschool run by the high school child development class that is $65/semester!  If I were my mother, I’d write a long, gushing paragraph about tender mercies.  Short testimony:  I love tithing.
  5. I love your limericks.  I’ll post up my favorites for voting later this week.

Okay.  I’m done now.

One of the people I want to be when I grow up

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Photo by Scot Facer Proctor

I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.

I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.

I want to be there with grass stains on my shoes from mowing Sister Schenk’s lawn.

I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbor’s children.

I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden.

I want to be there with the children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.

I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.

Marjorie Pay Hinckley