MOPS: Courage to Be a Mom

As I mentioned before,
The theme this year for MOPS is 'Be you, Bravely'.
During our last meeting we talked about having the courage to be a mom.

We started by watching this video about the world's toughest job...



Being a mom.
It's definitely the toughest job in the world.
It's also one of the most rewarding.
I would know...

Being a stay-at-home parent means everything is expected of you,
& nothing is expected of you all at the same time.
It just depends on who you ask.

My children expect everything of me.
My husband only expects me to take care of myself & the kids.
(If I manage to get other things done that's great, but we are his priority.)
Some people may expect that my house would always be spotless since I'm home all day.
Others know that even though I'm a stay-at-home mom my house is rarely spotless
because my children expect everything of me.

We talked about how sometimes society thinks that because we aren't earning a paycheck we aren't contributing to society & that we are simply too lazy to work.
It's quite the opposite really.
Stay-at-homes are very busy people.
Cooking,
cleaning,
paying bills,
running errands,
changing diapers,
taking care of sick children,
helping watch other peoples' kids,
scheduling appointments,
going to appointments,
& thousands of other things that come our way.
It's definitely more work than your typical high school babysitting job (;

We talked about how easy it is to get discouraged
when we are doing 'all the things'
& somehow we still can't manage to get everything done.

Then we realize that our children are growing up before our eyes
so we slow down for a bit & embrace those little moments
only to notice exactly how much we are contributing to society.
We are raising these children to be wonderful adults.
We are teaching them important values.
We teach them:
to listen.
to be kind.
to have faith.
to love.
We are teaching them the importance of family,
responsibility,
& so many other things.
We are teaching them all the things they will need to know in order to get through life.

A couple things really stood out to me during the meeting:
"Today is the day that really matters"
"Motherhood is your worthy calling for today, and you ARE enough."

Although they didn't share it at MOPS,
this video also came to my mind...



"You never know how much good you do."
- President Gordon B. Hinckley -

We broke into our discussion groups
where we talked about how difficult yet rewarding being a mother can be.
We also each received paychecks for a gazillion dollars for all the hard work we do!
For some strange reason by bank won't honor it...
Shucks.

We met back up as a large group then finished off the meeting
by watching this inspirational video about the power of a mother's love...

One last thought...
Someone mentioned this poem in our group & I've always loved it:
I hope my child looks back on today
And sees a mother who had time to play.
There will be years for cleaning and cooking
But children grow up while you are not looking.
Tomorrow I'll do all the chores you can mention
But today, my baby needs time and attention.
So settle down cobwebs, dust go to sleep;
I'm cuddling my baby, and babies don't keep.
- anonymous -

xoxo