Improve the Shining Moments

I have learned a lot this past week. It was kind of a long, emotional, somewhat difficult week, but I think I've come out the other side having learned a few things. I gained my own personal witness this week of one of my mother-in-law's favorite sayings: "Hard is Good." It's taken me a while, but I finally understand it in a more personal way. Being a Mom is HARD! I have a friend who says that all the time, but (I hate to say it) I used to think she must be a wimp. Now I know she's not. What she really meant was, being a GOOD Mom is hard. And it is. It's supposed to be. If being a Mom isn't hard, you're doing something wrong - like I have been. I've been a mediocre Mom at best. But I've realized this week that being a GOOD Mom requires great personal sacrifice, self-discipline, and complete reliance upon the Lord. And that's hard. But now I know that it should be hard. If I'm not being challenged every day by my role as a mother, I'm not doing my best, and my children need my best.

That leads me to the next lesson I've learned. The hymn we sang in Sacrament Meeting today summed it up perfectly and brought me to tears: "Improve the shining moments; don't let them pass you by." Each moment of my children's lives is precious and fleeting. If that moment is wasted by my impatience or lack of compassion, it is gone.

"Time flies on wings of lightning;

we cannot call it back.

It comes, then passes forward

along its onward track.

And if we are not mindful,

the chance will fade away,

for life is quick in passing,

'tis as a single day."

Today this hymn has become one of my very favorites.