Worth Your Time

As I sit here looking around the kitchen with dishes piled on the counter, the remnants of today's lunch preparation (bread, peanut butter, jam) still sitting out, the floor that needs to be swept and mopped, the dishwasher that needs unloading... I feel a little stressed. I feel as though I will never catch up. Because the kitchen is sort of the least of what I need to take care of today.
After a morning of my two-month-old needing to be fed and cuddled, and helped to sleep... and my two-year-old laying on the floor sobbing despondently because all he wants is for Daddy to hold him, and Daddy is at work... I wonder if I'll make it. Whew. There are days, and there are days. I am not the only person who has ever felt like this, I know.
Instead of cleaning the kitchen, doing the laundry, emptying wastebaskets and vacuuming carpets while the two boys are both finally (blessedly) sleeping, I hopped onto my reader and checked out what is going on in the blogosphere. And I found this post at my fabulous sister-in-law's blog, which led me to Laurel's blog (who is my sister-in-law's sister-in-law and who I have always admired, though she doesn't know that). And can I just say to each of the excerpts from her new book: Amen and amen. I am excited to read her book -- mostly because who doesn't need a little reminder now and again of these simple truths? I certainly needed it today.

I especially like the quote about individual worth -- because I needed to be reminded of that today. My house will get cleaned, my children cared for -- and that is my purpose right now, my divine mission, is to care for my family. What I do has lasting value.


Here's a place to pre-order if you're interested. And you should be. I think it's going to be fantastic! Here are the excerpts:

FAITH
"The reality is that faith isn’t about me. It’s about Him. And the Lord Jesus Christ has a pretty impeccable past record…not just in my life but in the countless lives and experiences of God’s children. That is why if my faith is really centered in HIM, then I’m always okay. Always."

DIVINE NATURE
"Regardless of who your parents are or how they have chosen to raise you, you have inherited qualities from your Heavenly Parents that are 'in your blood.' It's just who you are."

INDIVIDUAL WORTH
"Trust that God has a divine mission waiting for you and JUST for you. Trust that He, even now, is orchestrating details of your life to help you fulfill what you were sent to this earth to perform."

KNOWLEDGE
"The most important knowledge you will gain in this life will be the knowledge that is put into your heart and your mind through life's experience by the power of the Holy Ghost."

CHOICE & ACCOUNTABILITY
"Every choice has a consequence. But, the Lord loves you enough and trusts you enough to let YOU choose throughout your life. And a daughter of God who understands who she is has the power within her to make good choices and then gets to enjoy the consequences of those choices."

GOOD WORKS
"One of the characteristics of God's daughters is that we have a natural inclination to nurture other people. We want to love them and serve them and help them. It's one of my favorite things about being a girl. And it's one of the things that makes a girl beautiful."

INTEGRITY
"That is the epitome of integrity--not simply acting right when you have the chance to act wrong, but acting right when you have the chance to act...right."

VIRTUE
"The culminating experience for a daughter of God who lives the values is being as close as possible to her Father in Heaven and to her Savior as she enters the doors of God's Holy House--the temple."