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Just 10 Minutes of Peace
By Rebecca | April 10, 2008
In the Sunday Afternoon session of the most recent General Conference, Elder Ballard spoke to young mothers. The very first bit of advice that he gave to help mothers enjoy their families more was this:
First, recognize that the joy of motherhood comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction.
Today I had such a moment. Not only was it joyful and satisfying, but it was fun.
I left the house this morning to do several errands before lunch. First I went to the Dollar store to buy bread. (They sometimes have day old, brand name, whole wheat bread there and it’s just a dollar.) Then I drove to the next store on my list–a video game store. As I parked my van outside the front entrance, I noticed that the store did not open for another 10 minutes.
I didn’t know it at the time but this was one of my moments.
I let the girls, my daughter and her friend, whom I babysit daily, take off their seat belts and climb into the front. They were both excited to sit in front, if only for a minute. My daughter gave me a hug and told me she wanted to listen to music. I turned on the radio and found a “Classic Country” station that I am enjoy.
My daughter moved and the other little girl came to sit in my lap and give me hugs and kisses. Commercials played on the radio for the first few seconds. I don’t remember what we did or said but it was peaceful and not rushed. We didn’t have anywhere else to be or anything we had to do but wait for the store to open.
Then the commercials ended and a song by The Judds came on. It was an upbeat, lively tune about music and dancing and having a good time. I began to sing along. The girls clapped their hands and moved in rhythm with the music. I started to snap my fingers and they tried to make their small fingers snap too. When they couldn’t make any noise and were beginning to get frustrated, I stopped snapping and joined them in clapping hands instead.
As the music began to fade, I could see a man inside the video game store turning a lock on the door. Our 10 minutes of waiting were over. We went back to running errands and the hustle and bustle of our busy day. It was like an island of peace in the middle of a rushing river.
At first I was slightly annoyed by the delay. I thought only about hurrying to get my errands completed. But looking back on my day, I see that the 10 minutes of waiting was a gift from my Heavenly Father. It was a chance to stop and enjoy a few moments with the children placed in my care. I am glad that I had sense enough to enjoy it.
Topics: Relief Society, Uncategorized |
April 29th, 2008 at 9:35 pm
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