Intention

As I distill all the amazing information I gathered while attending Education Week last week at BYU, I've come up with one word that stood out more than anything else (and that's saying a lot because an awful lot was said there!) and that word is intention or intentional.

I desire to become more intentional in my teaching. More intentional in my parenting. The premise is extraordinarily basic, but hard nonetheless. I need to focus more on what I want the end result to be. And, that goes for everything. The end result for unity. The end result for charity. The end result for love. The end result for testimony. Does that make sense?

It kind of goes like this...I, like so many parents I know, want more than just about anything else in the world for my children to gain their own personal testimony of our Savior and His love for them. That is number one for my greatest desires for my children. So, what am I doing about it? Lots, really. I take them to church. We read scriptures together. We pray together. We live our lives in accordance to the gospel teachings (to the best of our abilities) but what about testimonies? They hear Wes and I bear our testimonies once in a while during fast and testimony meetings, and some of them have bravely born their own testimonies in front of the entire congregation too. And that is good, but maybe I could do more? I've always believed that it is in the behavior of doing something, you truly learn and gain from it. So, I've come to realize that I need to provide more opportunity for them to bear their own testimonies in a safe and non-intimidating setting- our home.

Okay, long story short. For me to be more intentional about my children gaining their own testimonies of our Savior, I want them to bear their testimonies more often. So, I need to provide that opportunity. I've decided that on the fast Sunday's we are going to hold our own family testimony meeting after church and then break our fast right afterward at home (I plan to have each child, along with Wes and I, bear our testimonies). Now, I'm very realistic about this plan of mine. I know I will get plenty of push back from some or even all of my kids about it, but that's okay. Push back usually means they are simply adjusting to something new. Change can be hard for some more than others. And, I plan on their being quite a bit of griping about hunger pains and such. That's okay too. It is to be expected.

So, this is just a small example of my desire/need/hope for more intention in my life and in our family. Education week was so great this year because I gleaned a lot of super awesome concrete ways to become more intentional in my teaching. Now, don't get me wrong, I've done an okay job with this kind of stuff so far (I am not berating myself at all!), but family life changes and evolves as the children (and the parents) change and grow. What worked five years ago isn't necessarily the right thing for us at this stage of the game. I need to be consistently evaluating and re-evaluating what we are doing and where it is taking us.

Moving forward with more intention in my teaching will help me to first feel calmer about the minor crisis's that happen on a regular basis. I know that they are but tiny blips on our path in life. I love the one of the quotes I heard last week. It was this:

"Crisis + Time = Humor"

And, secondly, it will calm my heart and mind to know that with consistent thoughtful teaching and love I can slowly but surely do all I can do to help these amazing children of God find their way back to Him. Because, as you know, and I know, I will be held accountable for my stewardship over them when all is said and done. And, I want to make sure I am doing all I can do to help them return to Him one day. And, of course I'm not saying that by doing XYZ everything will turn out peachy keen. Each child is totally individual and each child requires different things (often times I have no idea what a particular kid needs and thank goodness God knows them better than I do and I can petition Him to help guide me along the way).

Parenting with intention is no easy task. It is much easier to be re-active to life. To put out small fires all day long and never step back and really think about what we are doing and where it is taking us. Intention requires thought, planning and most importantly consistency. And, then regular evaluations about how it is going.

I'm so grateful that I am blessed to be the mother of these four wonderful children. They are each as unique as can be. They each teach me so much about life, love and true joy. I often wonder about how I got so lucky to have them in my life. I honestly can barely remember my life before motherhood. It is the greatest responsibility I will ever have.