Thankful

Well, I can't post all about Thanksgiving this year and not talk about what I'm grateful for. I've written in my Thanksgiving journal already, but I wanted to put a few things on the blog for a gratitude assignment I had this month for my mom group. The assignment encouraged us to write down why we are grateful for motherhood specifically and what motherhood has given us.

Here's the list I wrote last Sunday when I was brainstorming in my journal:

• I'm grateful that I am not in a profession where people are pitted against each other in a "dog-eat-dog world" kind of way to fight for success. I would not thrive there, it's not my element.
• I'm grateful that my life plan of being a mom has worked out for me. It doesn't for everyone and that's a difficulty I haven't had to face.
• I'm grateful that motherhood teaches me about my relationship with Heavenly Father. I'm convinced that this is one of the purposes of motherhood. I see parallels so often.
• I'm grateful for sweet moments that I get to experience with each child individually and collectively.
• I'm grateful that motherhood gives me the opportunity to be part of something larger than my own life. I have a huge impact on the lives of my children and therefore some sort of impact on the larger world around them that they interact with. Sometimes this seems like a huge weight, and others it seems like an empowering fact. I hold a part of the future in my arms every night when I snuggle with each child before they go to bed.
• Motherhood has taught me selflessness. I am no master of selflessness, but I certainly know more about it than I did four and a half years ago.
• I'm grateful for the teaching opportunities I've had through motherhood. There's not much in my life that humbles me on a weekly, even daily basis the way motherhood does!
• I'm grateful to be a part of watching my children's growing and developing minds. There's something really rewarding about being a part of the learning process.
• Motherhood pushes me towards essentialism in my life. This helps me to not get caught up in the world.
• I've become a better life manager because of motherhood. I often feel like I'm either sinking or swimming in life, but management skills I've had to learn as a mother have helped me to be more in the swimming side.
• Motherhood has given me more confidence.
• Motherhood has added depth to my marriage.
• Motherhood has forced me to make a choice between letting my natural self rule and working hard to refine myself and that's something I'm very grateful for. First off, I am not a perfectly refined human being. I'll just say that right now so I don't sound like I'm really full of myself here. And I really won't be until after I die, but I can choose to work towards refinement now and that blesses my life and the life of my family. For example, I've noticed that I've really struggled with patience this fall. This forces a choice. I could choose to not care and yell and scream at the kids all day if I wanted to. What would the outside world know about it, right? What do my neighbors know about what happens behind the walls of our home? But there would be irreparable damage to my relationships with my children and that I cannot bare. So instead, I choose to get on my knees and ask for help in learning self mastery so that I can slowly work towards that refinement. Motherhood offers ample opportunities for this, and so although it's hard, I'm very grateful that my children inspire me to become a better human being.