When Our Efforts Feel Feeble

Sometimes a mother's heart can't sleep.

I've been up since 4:30 this morning and my heart won't let my brain shut off.

I have a 7th grader starting middle school today, a sophomore starting high school and a college freshman starting school tomorrow.

Yesterday was a whirlwind of back to school nights and last minute school supply shopping.

I can't help but wonder if I've done enough to help them be prepared for these next big stages in their lives.

I'm reminded of a favorite quote from Jeffrey R. Holland that says:

"Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.

Maybe that is part of what motherhood asks of us. We do everything we can to prepare them, and then we have to trust God with the things we cannot do for them.

A mother in the Book of Mormon that I think of often is Sariah. She couldn't protect her sons from the wilderness and probably wondered if she had raised them to be resilient enough to handle it all. She couldn't go with them to Jerusalem when the Lord asked them to return despite it being dangerous. She could only trust that the Lord would do what she could not.

And maybe that's what I need to remember this morning.

Sariah had to learn that she could not protect her children from every wilderness. Neither can I.

But she learned that the Lord could.

So today, as my children start new chapters, I'll try to remember that my job isn't to prepare them for everything. It's to love them, teach them, pray for them, and then trust God to walk with them where I cannot.

My efforts may feel feeble. But thankfully, they don't have to be enough on their own.

I have introduced a new item in my shop called "A Mother's Heart Necklace". It symbolizes all of the things we carry as mothers. I'd love for you to check it out! Currently taking preorders, shipments will go out in mid to late September.