We can all be EXACTLY PERFECT at something...

Two hours and 4...no 5 Oreos later I end my night of blogging with something to "sleep on"...better make that 6 Oreos.....and a bit of milk....why not? It's only after midnight!

So, besides being EXACTLY PERFECT at eating too many chocolate cookies...the crumbs are all over my shirt to prove it...let me get a bit more serious.

As I was getting ready for church today, wondering and worrying about a dozen different things, I was really just hoping that today I could go and get that confirmation that I was doing something right in my life. Russ took Carter during priesthood/relief society and I was sooo ready to sit through a whole lesson childless!! I have only been in our new ward for two weeks now, but I love it! I didn't think that any ward could be as wonderful as the Pocatello Cedar 3rd ward...but I might be wrong!

The lesson given today was EXACT LY what I needed to hear and what was even more wonderful was that all throughout the lesson I kept feeling an almost continual confirmation from the Holy Ghost that truth was being taught in that tiny room! So many sisters gave comment after comment, adding upon the spirit and depth of the principles being portrayed by our teacher! It was a wonderful and fulfilling experience for me....I felt like a dry sponge trying to soak up every ounce of "spiritual moisture" in that room!

One of the many comments that has stuck with me today was one given by a sister missionary. She mentioned that although we cannot be perfect at EVERYTHING, we can be EXACTLY PERFECT at something. I thought, "What am I exactly perfect at?" I had to do a hard evaluation of myself. Maybe there are other moms who feel the same as me, maybe there are other moms who have been where I am now....

Thirteen years ago, I began a journey as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. It seemed like the more I did things the Lord's way, the more trials I suffered along the way. Why? I knew, even from a very young age, that there was a real evil in the world that turned good people bad, and bad people into monsters. Light vs. darkness. I have always felt deep within me that desire to rise above the darkness. I am only one person, but maybe it would only take one person, one little ray of sunshine, to chase the dark away. How?

We cannot be perfect at EVERYTHING, but we can be EXACTLY PERFECT at something!

As I sat in that little relief society room, I felt in every fiber of my being that the Lord doesn't need women to be the next President, the greatest doctor, lawyer, CEO, or celebrity....he needs Mothers, Grandmothers, Sisters, Aunts....to be on His side and to take part in spreading light and goodness throughout our homes, neighborhoods, churches, and work places.

If, in every day, and in every way, we tried a little harder to be more positive, patient, gentle, and understanding....couldn't we make life a little better? I don't want to sit around and wait for anyone else but myself to be obedient to what the Lord has asked of us. Do we have to be compelled in all things?

There have been nights where I lay down to sleep and am exhausted after all I did that day: cleaning, cooking, disciplining, cleaning, bathing children, nap-time, laundry, cleaning again, going to the park, bed-time rituals for each child, thinking about exercising, eating half a package of Oreos...the list can go on!!! I wonder, "What more can be asked of me?" And as I settle down and almost drift off to sleep a little voice whispers (like a tiny pin-prick) "Don't forget to say your prayers!" I roll over to find Russ softly snoring, envying his "ability" to shut off so easily! I give him a nudge, "Hey! We need to say our prayer!" He obediently kneels, and of all the things I did that day, the hardest one is to get out of bed to kneel and say a prayer! We can be EXACTLY PERFECT at something! Of all the things I did that day...saying a prayer with my husband, hand in hand, is more important than any other task! I think of the lyrics to a song, "A thousand prayers, a million words....but one voice is heard."

Sometimes, women, we have to step up and set the standard. We have to be strong and immovable...a light guiding our family through the darkness. It's hard....it really is! I work hard for what is most important to me. But I can't do it alone. We must depend more upon our Savior, upon our Heavenly Father, to lead, guide, and walk beside us. I felt today at church, the urging of a loving Father in Heaven, through the gift of the Holy Ghost, to do a little better, to reach a little higher, to stand a little taller as a mother and a woman and daughter of God.

When all is said and done, it won't matter who was president, a doctor, a lawyer, CEO, or celebrity....will it? Maybe you did just eat a half a package of Oreo cookies, and there are crumbs all over your shirt to prove it...but you can go to bed knowing that your two-almost three year old daughter knows that Jesus loves us and is waiting to hear us pray at night, that when we pray it makes him very happy, ( I helped Anna say her prayer tonight...she did not want to say it...I told her to look at her picture of Jesus...that it makes him very happy when she says her prayers. After her prayer was done, she looked up at her picture, furrowed her eyebrows, and said, "Mommy, Jesus still not happy!" In the picture, Jesus is serious!) that God will help us every day... He can even help us throw stones at big giants and make them fall down (by-the-way...Anna told me she wants a bag of rocks and a "thingy" (aka-slingshot) for her birthday, to make the giants fall down)

My body or hair or house will never look or be perfect. But I can be EXACTLY PERFECT at something...and maybe someday I will be exactly perfect at two things....and then three things.....and four.....and then I'll help myself to another Oreo!