i've had a great mother's day today. i woke to the perfect breakfast of a homemade egg mcmuffin with cheese and bacon. a fried egg over easy on crispy, cheesy english muffin toast is one of my favorites in the a.m. then my boy's presented me with a beautiful paper bouquet of flowers they had made by hand with dad. i loved it! they even had a single one as a corsage for me for church. it was splendid. then i had to follow a string to each boy's handmade mother's day gifts. their school teacher's each had had them prepare lovely written projects for me. it was such a treat!
i brainstormed a bit for my lesson at church. i teach the children ages 3-11. the first hour is all the children 7 and under. the second hour is the 8-11 year olds. i had prepared a mother's day activity of making paper easter lilies from their hand cut-outs and green pipe cleaners. i had a hunch the children would love making these flowers for their mothers. And the concept was that the mother's with multiple primary aged-children would then get a nice bouquet of flowers with all of their children's flowers gifted to them.
the lesson part of my mother's day activity for the children was a concept that came to me as i meditated this morning after gathering all of the items for the craft activity. i had a thought come to me and then all of a sudden i went to the box of church pictures i have and found perfect pictures that would work to help explain the concept i had in my head. it seemed as if it was meant to be. i don't take credit for the lesson idea today. it just was a wonderful gift presented in my head as if it were my own thought but i know i was blessed with the whisper of the idea from above just for today.
the lesson was more or less this:
i drew a space for heaven on the board and then the earth just below it. then i drew an arrow on the right from heaven down to earth. next to that arrow i placed the picture of mary and the baby jesus in the stable. then on the other side of the earth i drew an arrow pointing back up to heaven. next to this arrow there was a series of pictures: Christ on the cross, Christ's body being placed in the tomb, and Christ as a resurrected being in a white robe.
i asked the children how they came to earth. did they hang-glide to earth as a newborn? did they take an elevator? they all knew that was silly and informed me that it was through their mother's tummy that they came. (i love simple answers that children provide!) we talked about that and what an amazing miracle it is that a human mother carries her baby inside her. that is how every person comes to earth. that is part of the Plan of Salvation. mother's are a key part of Heavenly Father's plan for getting people to earth! then i asked them how they get back to heaven after they die? do they take an atv? do they get back in their mother's tummy? we talked about how silly that is. and we reviewed that because Jesus Christ died and was resurrected every person who comes to earth will be resurrected too and able to return to live forever in heaven. Jesus Christ is the person who makes it possible for us to return.
then i showed the children the paper flowers we would be making for their mothers. they are lilies like an easter lily flower. we talked about how interesting it is that we just celebrated easter. that is the celebration of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. and now, today, just a few weeks after easter, we are celebrating mothers on mother's day. mothers get us from heaven to earth and christ gets us from earth back to heaven and we celebrate both people just weeks apart in april and may. and then my morgan pointed out to everyone that both holidays are celebrated on sunday. yes, morgan, you are right! both are on sunday every year. sunday is the sabbath day. it is a holy day. what a wonderful thing that in our culture we celebrate both Christ and mother's on a sunday only weeks apart for both are key parts of making Heavenly Father's plan for his spirit children work!
we also talked about how all women even if not able to have children of their own can live a righteous life and influence others for good and be important guides for others to know Jesus Christ and follow His commandments to live a moral life. they can be like mother's to others or care for others and influence and people for good.
this discussion with the children today really embedded in me a deeper sense of meaning of my role as a mother. i value my position to be able to bring children to this earth and guide them to truth and goodness. i value that gift i've been bestowed from God. it shows me that He values women far beyond the value most women place on themselves or certainly more than many men value women. i had a feeling of honor today that i've never really had come to me before as a woman or mother. it just is difficult to put into words but i felt today more than i had in a long time that who i am and what i am doing here on earth right now is really really important! my family and my children in particular are my number one job and jurisdiction.
then the children made the most amazing paper lily flowers from their hand cut-outs! i hope every one of their mother's enjoyed the gift.
i love homemade mother's day gifts. my husband's homemade breakfast, his doing the laundry and cleaning the house for me this weekend have been better than the store purchased gifts. this day renewed me. i am grateful, happy and feel as though i am becoming the woman i want to be.
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