this is what it's all about

Apologies to anyone who already heard any of this on Sunday from the pulpit, but I've been blessed and I wanted to record it here so it can become one of the major themes of the blog. I feel I've neglected it thus far.


Saturday we went with Rosie, Nance and a family friend Cody :) to Temple Square. We've been on the tours many times before, but we haven't been with the kids recently. Samuel was good and chilled most of the time there in the double stroller. But even through her constant wandering I could tell Miranda was feeling and thinking eternal things.

She always wants to go to the big Jesus when we go to Temple Square. This time we went to the Conference Center first and she kept asking about if we were going to go to Pa's work with the big stone fountains and the big Jesus. I thought, OH BOY it's going to be tough holding her off through the whole Conference Center tour.


So we sort of hung back out of necessity during the tour while the rest of the group heard all of the amazing facts about the building and the lovely things in it. This gave us a good chance to talk, which I ended up being very grateful for. We put our fingers in the fountain in the center of the plaza level, and then we took a few steps into the still vastness where everyone comes to sit and listen to a Prophet's voice.

I looked up at the pulpit and memorable moments flooded my mind. I stopped and leaned over to Miranda, "I always feel the Holy Ghost in this place."
I started walking with her again and she pulled my hand, and looked up at me with happy, wide eyes. "I feel it too! And I feel Jesus!"

We walked down near the pulpit. Miranda practiced the alphabet by saying the lit up letter at the end of each row. I was trying to listen at this point to the tour guide and I thought she was distracted by the ABC's (nice that somebody thought of that to keep kids quiet during the tour...heh heh). It was time to go to the next point so I took her hand and she was looking over the rows on rows of seats, balconies of seats spreading far and wide. "This is like a field," she said. "A field of chairs."


I loved that. I think I'll write a poem about it later. I must have been spiritually minded too at that point, benefitting from the holiness in that place, because I started to think about planting seeds and no more than desiring them to grow, and how living water comes out of that pulpit into the field, and the swelling motions produce fruit desirable above all else. Maybe the poem will express what I was thinking better.

We went up a few floors and I enjoyed her remarks about paintings here and there. Before we got to the hall of prophets on the top floor, she had noticed a picture of President Monson on the wall.

She was really excited about this because she's been working on always praying for him lately, and so she ran over and we said his name, and then President Eyring and President Uchdorf. I started thinking about how much of her life she may know President Monson as Prophet. She still prays for President Hinckley, too, actually. She prays that he won't die. And you know, he hasn't died since she's been praying for that.

Well, we spent some more time looking at a stainglass of "Healing at the Pool of Bethesda" by Carl Bloch.

This painting always has and always will remind me of my dad, who also has a copy in his home. So Miranda is familiar with it and likes to talk about all of the people in it...the little girl (boy?) with her mother gathering water, other sick people, etc. We turned from it to see my husband's favorite sculpture, depicting the Father and the Son appearing to the boy Joseph. The metal stretches all the way from Joseph up to the Father and Son quite a bit higher, like a strong, solid pillar. Everyone had gone on and Miranda and Rosie and I held back. I said, "Remember the story of Joseph Smith when Heavenly Father and Jesus came and told him not to join any of the Churches, because they were going to help him make a new Church that had nursery?" She loves nursery. So I've used that of course. She looked up at Heavenly Father and Jesus, pressed her little hands together in a prayer and said, "Thank you for making my new Church! I love Nursery!" I thought how special it was and looked at Rosie when Miranda turned back to them and added, "But I don't like Sacrament."

Then we went to each of the busts of the prophets in the room and she asked me their names and wanted to repeat each one. Wilford Woodruff was probably the hardest. But it was so, so cute to hear her say each important name in her 2 1/2-year-old voice: "Spencer W. Kimball." I loved it.

Another special time for me was when we went through the new "Families" exhibit (it might be called "God's Plan") at the South Visitor's Center on Temple Square. For any of you that haven't been to that exhibit, GO. It's fairly new, and we hadn't been before. It follows a cute little family from room to room in their house, and even to their Grandparents' house, and teaches about the eternal nature of families. I felt very uplifted by the Spirit. Miranda sat next to me the whole time and listened. It is definitely kid friendly. I won't spoil the ending but the presentation gave me a chance to talk about really important things with her, and to see her little face taking it in. After I explained one of the things to her, she turned and smiled at me and hugged me, without any major reason. I just knew she was feeling something wonderful, and I was too.

My favorite times are when she does something kind or good and tells me, "Mom, I'm feeling the Holy Ghost in my heart right now!" Her favorite times at our house by far are Family Home Evenings, and she wants her dad to show her a scripture book every night. I realize at these times that we don't feed her as much as we should. She loves holy things so much. I let her spend, and I spend, so much time on things that don't matter. I could write about a thousand times when I or the kids or both are not behaving in very holy ways, nor dwelling on the things of eternity in either thought or action. But in many moments, my kids show me what my own focus should be.

I feel so grateful for these experiences and for the chance we'll have with Samuel to experience the same and different things. Sister Beck talked about "Mothers Who Know." I've been thinking a lot about that concept lately. I feel like these kinds of experience give me a taste of what our lives could be like if I truly embraced my role the way He could help me do.

I realize as I'm writing that the people who I know read this blog are very well aware of the beauty of families and motherhood and likely do not lose sight of their role the way I often do. I appreciate all the wonderful examples and friends I have to remind me, and I thank you, especially as we head into Mother's Day.

I find myself more thankful than ever for the doctrine on the family that we know to be true. I know in my heart that the little things we do every day matter, and that they probably matter most. It is a testament to the kindness of God that his plan is for us to be always with our family. It is a testament of His kindness to me that I can always be with mine.