Honored

I want to tell you what's happened in the days since my most recent post. I posted a link to the YouTube "Mormon Message" that features the beautiful song "Do You Have Room For the Savior?" written by Shawna Edwards. At the end of the video, Shawna provides her e-mail address for anyone who would like an MP3 copy of the song. The more I've watched that video, the more I've come to appreciate that song. Lyrically, poetically, musically, it is a masterpiece. So I e-mailed Shawna for a copy, and was surprised by her quick, personal reply, in which she told me that she's not charging for copies of the MP3, but that, in her words, it does come "with a price." She's collecting stories from everyone who requests a copy of the song. Specifically she wants to know how the song has inspired people to make room for the Savior in their lives. So I sent her a copy of what I'd written on my blog, and then, a few hours later, sent her a "P.S." e-mail of what I wish I would've told her. I sent a quick paragraph about what a specific portion of the video had meant to me as a young mom. Again, I was surprised by her quick and personal response, this time a request to include a portion of my "story" on her blog. For someone as gifted with words as this woman is, I was so touched that she'd want to post my story -- my simple blurb about how her video helped me stop feel down in the dumps about the mundane tasks of motherhood. Here's what she included on her blog:

From Monica, in Salem, Oregon:

There's one split-second clip in the video, right near the end, that shows a mother praying with her children. I can't tell you how much that little part meant to me when I saw it. I had just been watching scenes of other great service that people render for those in need, and I felt a bit ashamed that I'm not currently doing any of those things. With a husband in law school and an active little two-year-old son, I'm happy to keep afloat most days, let alone find time for organized acts of service.
But when I saw that clip of that sweet mother praying with her children, I thought, "but I am doing that." I felt such a powerful witness of how mothering provides some of the greatest opportunities for making room for the Savior. I don't always feel like I'm making a huge difference in the world right now -- my world is diaper changes, macaroni and cheese, sippy cups and naptimes. But that little portion of the video reminded me that I can make room for the Savior in my home and in my child's heart through the little things -- the hugs, the prayers, the scripture stories, the Primary songs sung as lullabies.
Tonight as I rocked my little one before bed and sang "I'm Trying to Be Like Jesus," I heard your song in the back of my mind and felt that tonight, in a humble little apartment, there was room for the Savior.

All I could tell Shawna in response to her request to put that on her blog was that I felt "honored." And I do. In my few communications with that amazing woman, I have such an admiration for her. She's a heart-and-soul stay-at-home mom who has put her incredible musical talents on the back burner for the past 30 years while she's raised her beautiful family. Now that her youngest is off in his mission, she feels that her window is now open to put her gifts to use in a way that won't "shortchange her kids." She seems so down to earth and lovable. She was born and raised in Orem, and from what I can tell, has raised her own family there. I'd love the chance to meet her someday. Her responses to me about my simple little testimony of motherhood helped validate the feelings in my heart that there is truly no more important role in this life or eternity for any woman than to care for our Heavenly Father's little ones. It's so nice to know that other women, amazingly talented ones at that, feel the same way. I am in awe of women like Shawna, whose gifts are such that she could have easily had a phenomenal career in the field of her choice, and yet, her choice was to raise a beautiful family, and to let her talents bless them. I love that!

Within the same time frame that I was communicating with Shawna, I was on Facebook one day and saw the photos off to the side with my group of friends. It so happened that the few pictures showing at that time were almost all friends of mine who are in the same phase of life as me -- raising little ones while supporting husbands in school or at the beginning of their careers. I smiled as I saw women I admire, women of faith who are gentle and sweet and loving. All talented, bright women, many with degrees in fields in which they are very good at. And yet, like Shawna, have put things aside for a season so they can give motherhood their undivided attention. Love or hate Facebook, I think one of the things I've loved most is the unity I feel among women I've come to know over the years who are doing and loving the same thing I'm doing, in many different cities all over the country (and the world, in some instances!). I feel a strong link with all of those women as I see and hear about the things they're doing as they participate in motherhood, and in turn, make room for the Savior in their lives and in the lives of their precious children. To be a part of that, to be a mother, to feel of its profound importance when the world would dismiss parenthood as old-fashioned and a waste of talent, makes me feel so blessed, so privileged, so, well, honored.