lessons–the script of mother and wife

sometimes I don’t feel like I am heard as a mother and wife (tonight being one of those nights). who cares about mom? what does she know? oh, that’s just mom talking… no biggie, let’s keep playing. But expectations are SO high as to having dinner on the table, getting the house in livable condition, and listening and being there for someone whenever they need you. NEVER visa versa…

I get interrupted and never get to finish stories or even my sentences. I rarely get my space and always have someone in my space. I get demands for snacks and food, I cook and clean up after everyone. I even get peed on and thrown up on.

so important, but unimportant…

Sure there are rewarding experiences… but sometimes, I would just like to clock out and just be Clarissa for a while. Sadly that will never happen. And most days, I wouldn’t even consider clocking out. I love being this, but I worry that me as a person, is getting lost. I am just becoming a role – a character that the playwright wrote in to fill the empty holes while the rest of the characters get to give in to their every whim without responsibility.

It is like those movies that you realize they didn’t clean up the counter in one scene, but it is cleaned up in the next… kind of like a glitch… well, guess who did the cleaning? MOM!!!

It makes me understand God and his role with his children in deeper context. We often forget that he is a person. We expect so much out of him, but rarely ever listen to him and what he has to say to us. Being a mom sure helps me understand his mercy, compassion and unconditional love and sacrifice.

my insight time is up and my one hand is tired of typing. guess what’s in the other? a baby... of course!

the analogy of the gondola

Elder David Bednar of the quorum of the twelve talked at BYU-Idaho a while back. He spoke on technology and how it is taking us into a technology virtual reality and away from this reality. You can find his talk here… http://www.byub.org/talks/Talk.aspx?id=3543

It is an incredible talk and from Claire’s 101 – so “before its time.” Even though it was only given two years ago, I have seen more and more people get sucked into this “virtual reality.”

Here’s my story to go along with this talk-

So this past month, my mom took me and my girls down to Telluride, CO for a trip on the Gondola ride. It is free and so gorgeous (two amazing pluses in my book!) Anyway, Little Miss A was thrilled at how big she felt going on the Gondola. Her anticipation was so worth the two hour drive. As we went up the first stretch, she realized that there were gondolas passing us every so often… and that they were filled with people.

We told her that she can wave to the people in passing and that if she waved good enough, they would probably wave back. Excitedly, she started waving her hand at every gondola passing by. And guess what? It worked! A group of people saw her and waved back. A’s enthusiasm rose as her faith was strengthened and her “testimony” and grew of this.

As each gondola passed, we noticed an interesting trend. Each gondola that had a group of people waved. Almost every single time! They were engaged in the outside world as they happily interacted with this sweet girl passing. However, each gondola that passed with only one person never gave a wave in return. In fact, they didn’t even see my sweet A. Each single, alone person was looking down and either on a phone, texting, or listening to music.

These people were not of this reality. They had chosen to distance themselves of the gorgeous surroundings and of my sweet A. As we got off the gondola, I suddenly felt sorry for those people who missed this interaction. It could have made their day… way more than a text from a friend. Plus, if they would have just looked up, they might have seen her and realized that they were missing out on this beautiful experience and scenery.

I love in Elder Bednar’s talk he says'-

“I testify that God lives and is our
Heavenly Father. He is the Author of the
plan of salvation. Jesus is the Christ, the
Redeemer, whose body was bruised,
broken, and torn for us as He offered the
atoning sacrifice. He is resurrected; He
lives; and He stands at the head of His
Church in these latter days. To be
“encircled about eternally in the arms of
his love” (2 Nephi 1:15) will be a real and
not a virtual experience.”

 

I second this with my testimony that even though technology is good and can be used for great things, Satan is fully aware of the fact that we do have physical bodies and he doesn’t. He will do everything in his power to keep us from enjoying this reality. There are so many things that we can spend our time on – social networking, blogs (ours and every one else’s), tv and movies online, music, games, pinterest, etc… One of my favorite bloggers who I read religiously just posted about realizing that she spent too much time blogging and now sets the timer for fifteen minutes to manage her time better, so she can enjoy her family more.

So what can you do to come back to this reality? Does it mean to let your calls go to voicemail? Turn your phone on silent during evening hours (like 5-8pm)? Drop your FB account and focus on your kids more?

One cool idea that I have seen is to have a basket at functions that asks people to drop their phones off for the time. I loved it!!!

PS- I just have to let you know that even I am not perfect… because as I went to put photos on this post, I noticed something IRONIC

I got a phone call on the gondola! I had to answer it because it had to do with us selling our car. Now that I think about it, I was so frustrated and cut the call short because I wanted to enjoy this moment with my girls. Ha! See, I am normal-