Our Father's Plan

To start of the celebration of something I treasure so very much, here is Laura:

I put my oldest son (who I call Buddy on my blog) down for his morning nap one morning many years ago.  I always had at least an hour to do housework, to exercise, or just to collapse on the couch.  On this particular day, I'm not sure what I did.  But I do remember I was in the middle of something I couldn't leave when I heard him waking up.

I called out to him, "Mommy is coming.  Just give me a second."  As I hurried to finish whatever I was doing, I tried to keep a running chatter going so he could hear my voice and know I was close.

But my approach didn't work.  Instead of my voice calming him down, he got more and more hysterical.

You see, he knew I could hear him.  But he didn't know why I wasn't coming.  He couldn't see me and he couldn't understand my words well enough to know what I was saying to him.

So he thought I was just ignoring him.

As I was trying to calm him down, a powerful feeling came over me.  I saw myself as a little child crying out to a loving Heavenly Father, frustrated when it seems He's ignoring me.  This is what I wrote in my journal: 

As I heard my son get scared and frustrated when I didn’t immediately come when he called for me, I could understand better Heavenly Father’s responses to my prayers.  He’s always there.  He’s always listening.  Like my son did today, sometimes I don’t understand what He’s trying to tell me because I haven’t learned the language He speaks well enough.

Although I had been on a mission and I taught investigators about personal revelation, I had struggled for years with my own belief that my Heavenly Father would answer my prayers.  I had studied and pondered and prayed.  But on that day I was taught something about my Heavenly Parent because I was a parent as well.

Maybe one reason families are so important—why the Proclamation to the World teaches that "the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children"—is because we can comprehend the nature of our Heavenly Father on a different level as we mother our own children.

(Please know that as a woman who married later and who struggled with infertility, I am particularly sensitive to these issues.  I have a strong testimony that motherhood is an eternal calling, see Sister Dew's incredible talk "Are We Not All Mothers?")

Remember when your children were learning to walk?  I know when my daughter fell over and over, I didn't groan and say, "Goldie, you keep falling!  When are you ever going to get this right?"

No, I got excited that she was trying to take those first trembling steps towards me.  And so when she fell, I scooped her up and wiped away her tears.  I gently reassured her, "Goldie, I love you!  I know you can do this!  It's hard, but I will be right here whenever you fall."  And then I willingly (and proudly) held her hand for as long as she needed me while she practiced her steps.

Wouldn't our Heavenly Father also get excited when we are trying to take our own trembling steps towards Him?  If we opened our hearts, wouldn't we also feel His gentle reassurance: "My beloved daughter, I love you!  I know you can do this!  It's hard, but I will be right here whenever you fall."

As parents, we experience firsthand a little of how our Heavenly Father would respond each time we fall.  We experience firsthand a little of the depth of love He feels for us.

So perhaps "the family is central to the Creator's plan for the eternal destiny of His children" in part because it is the perfect classroom.  The perfect classroom to teach us about Him.

Laura is the much-loved wife of Doc, and the sometimes-crazy mom to 3 sweet, mischievous kids. She is challenged every day by them to be a better person. She is grateful for that and thank the Lord every day for the miracles that all 4 of them are. Laura blogs about the challenge to be more than we are – while being satisfied with who we are now – over at Living a Big Story.

Thank you Laura, what a great start to our celebration.  Please leave some comment love in the comments section, or go visit her blog.  Grab a button, spread the word, join the celebration by commenting, if you can't comment, please feel free to email me your thoughts.   Check out the other amazing blogs that are participating, they also have some wonderful posts. 

Cocoa at Chocolate on my Cranium
Jocelyn at We Talk of Christ, We Rejoice in Christ
Shannon at The Redheaded Hostess   




 

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