“I know I’ll be grateful for my kids being so young and chaotic all at the same time someday.
“But this is brutal right now!”
And without fail, every single time I mention out loud how difficult this phase of life is, someone older than I am immediately says: “You’ll miss this when you are older!”
I used to get annoyed at that response—
Sometimes you just want someone to validate that things are hard, right?
But then I started to think…
If everyone older than I am is saying this, maybe they are right?
Even though this stage of life is hard, maybe I need to do better at finding the joy and feeling the gratitude NOW.
And really, don’t we all do this in lots of ways?
We get caught in the trap of thinking we can’t possibly feel gratitude now.
I mean, it is super healthy to admit when things are hard.
However, we know that God invites us to live with gratitude in our hearts constantly!
Constantly.
“How much of life do we miss by waiting to see the rainbow before thanking God that there is rain?” – Elder Uchtdorf
I’ve tried to reframe my perspective to think of things to be grateful for during the tough moments.
If I’m having a rough day with my kids at home because it’s Fall Break and they are going crazy… (I mean, this is just hypothetical, right?)
I try to picture myself 50 years from now, filled with gratitude for these little kids. I think of their good qualities.
But I’ve also tried to focus on praising God, no matter the circumstance.
Just feeling gratitude and love for God all the time.
The world recognizes gratitude as a positive mental health strategy (which it is).
But we also know that gratitude TO GOD is a spiritual principle.
Gratitude to God no matter the earthly circumstance can change our heart.
“Giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ”. (Ephesians 5:20)
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
2 Responses
I feel for you and o is exactly what you are talking about. I have 8 children. The first 6 close together and it was physically hard work. But I am going to join the chorus that says it is also the best times. It is fun and full of cuddles and the problems are generally small even if they don’t think so. The teenage years are hard because it is all about them asserting their independence and not wanting you to tell them what to do. And they don’t want to do things with you any more. And then as they enter adulthood the problems can be big and there is very little you can do to help. I miss my little kids.
Thank you for sharing! I’m trying to soak up this stage of life as much as I can!