Balance

Today I've been pondering to myself about life/motherhood...and I have come to the conclusion that if I could figure out one thing, 99.99% of all of my problems/issues/stress would be solved. The one thing? Balance. Balance encompasses so much, there is so much in life to balance.

*balance mom time vs. everyone else time

*balance time between siblings, or spending the most time where the most attention is needed.

*balance scripture study, exercise, chore time, lesson time, YW prep time, you name it "time"

*finding balance in my expectations of my children--what is too high? what is too low?

*finding the balance between stepping in on a situation, or letting it play itself out

*balance in extra-curricular activities

*balancing out my mood!!

You get the picture. Even though my last balance suggestion (my mood) seems silly, I think that affects most of my stress of all the others!! It is crazy how much influence I have in this little house of mine. Mostly, a little scary. It seems if I don't handle one situation as well as I would hope, boy, does that ever have a domino affect in the rest of everyone's moods!! That old saying is so true: "If mama ain't happy, ain't nobody happy!!"

I loved a talk that was given at our Stake Conference this weekend, by Elder Cornish-newly called general authority. He spoke about gratitude. When gratitude is present, anger and resentment, frustration, and I would even add stress, cannot be. I think gratitude can rid us, atleast partly, of our stress because it can refocus us on things that are eternally important and significant. I often stress about things that in the long-run, don't have a lot of significance.

In our last General Conference ensign there is a story I absolutely love about the young merchant who sold all his possessions to go be part of the California gold rush. He worked day after day, but couldn't seem to find much gold. He was ready to quit when an old prospector approached him and complimented him on his rock pile! The young merchant, discouraged, said there was no gold and was ready to go home. The prospector told him there was gold and he just needed to know where to find it. He hit two rocks together, and inside there were shining flecks of gold. The young merchant noticed a bulging leather pouch on the prospectors waist and told him he was looking for gold nuggets like the ones in his pouch. The prospector opened the pouch and the young merchant realized it was full of tiny flecks of gold.

I, of course, read this story and it reminded me of being a mother. When I notice those tiny shining flecks of gold, the world is so amazing!! I love being a mom!! It is the greatest treasure in all the world. But I admit there are days, when I see there are more rocks than gold. Those are hard days!! I really want to "balance" my life by focusing on those gold flecks. I know I talk a lot about "moments," because they really are what bring me the most joy. When I focus on the "gold" somehow my worries about balance tend to work themselves out. Mostly because when I think of joyful moments, I'm being grateful. When I'm grateful, the Spirit can talk to my spirit. When I have the Spirit's influence, it can help me with solutions to even the tiniest problems I may have.

And I'm grateful for that.