Thursday, May 19, 2016

Red Ants


                

The other day Scarlett and I were outside and she was riding her bike. I was sitting on the porch stairs watching her as she was zooming around squealing with delight at how fast she had learned to go. She stopped to take a break for a minute. Suddenly she looked down at her leg and then up at me, completely alarmed. She started riding towards me as fast as she could screaming, "A bug! A bug!" I hopped up just as she arrived in front of me. Her panic had increased as she was screaming that there was a bug on her leg. I looked down to see a red ant crawling up her leg. I quickly flicked it away before the ant was able to bite her, and all was well. As I thought about that quick little experience I couldn't help but compare it to life and to raising children. Scarlett didn't know that she could just reach down and brush the ant off her leg. She needed me to do it; to show her what to do. Next time she will probably be able to brush it off herself. Just like in life as children are learning and growing, they need to be shown through teaching and example, what to do. If I had not brushed the ant off, it would probably have bitten her. There are many things out there that will "bite" our children if we don't teach them how to push them away. I feel like there are so many things bombarding our kids each day, and Satan is having a hay day trying to lead people astray. We have been told over and over that what was sufficient in the past, will not longer be sufficient enough when teaching our kids the gospel. They will have to withstand so much more than we ever had to, and I feel like we had to withstand a lot! This terrifies me to no end. I am constantly wondering if I am doing enough to teach my kids, and to help them to develop their own testimonies of the gospel that they will be able to stand on. What a huge responsibility we have as parents to teach our kids the right way to go. Does that mean that things will always go perfectly and our kids will never make wrong choices or get "bitten"? No. That red ant could have bitten Scarlett before I was able to flick it away. Then I would have been there to comfort her and help to treat the bite. Our kids will make mistakes. They will feel hurt and pain from mistakes, and when that happens it is so important for us be there to help  to nurse the wounds and to help them through it. I try to always tell my kids that no matter what they do I will always be here for them; that they can always come to Brandon and I, and that they can always turn to prayer and to their Heavenly Father for comfort and counsel.  I hope and pray they know that is true. I hope and pray that Brandon and I are doing what we can to not only protect them from the "bites" in life, but to help them to know how to protect themselves. I love being a mom. I am going to school right now to further my education, and I love that too. But I know that my most important job is to be the kind of mom that my kids need; to help them to learn to stand on their own, and to know they are always loved, and that there is nothing that they can't do. 

Helamen 5:12 says, " And now, my sons, remember, remember that it is upon the rock of our Redeemer, who is Christ, the Son of God, that ye must build your foundation; that when the devil shall send forth his mighty winds, yea, his shafts in the whirlwind, yea, when all his hail and his mighty storm shall beat upon you, it shall have no power over you to drag you down to the gulf of misery and endless wo, because of the rock upon which ye are built, which is a sure foundation, a foundation whereon if men build they cannot fall."







God Gave Us Families - free print - LDS conference printable - Gdesigned:



                                               It's never too early or too late to lead, guide, and walk beside our children because families are forever.  Bradley D. Foster, October 2015: