searching for inspiration

I've thought of all sorts of random thoughts lately, but now I can't remember them. Like my brain, they have gone missing.

About six years ago, I had several talks on tape. They were all by Mary Ellen Edmunds. She is a great speaker. She is funny, truthful, inspiring, and down-to-Earth. She makes me laugh. I don't have any idea where those tapes are now since we've made two moves in six years and it really doesn't matter because I don't have a tape player anymore.

I was thinking recently how much I enjoyed her talks. So, I looked her up on the Internet. I found one of her talks I could listen to in the form of an MP3 and all her other talks were there and available for me to read. I've sure enjoyed catching up with her talks.

One story has stuck with me for many years. She told a story about a friend who was sitting in sacrament meeting and the young man doing one of the sacrament prayers kept messing up a big and he had to say it three or four times before he got it. The friend said how grateful she was to hear it that many times because she wasn't ready to listen the first two times it was said. I liked that idea. It isn't easy with small kids and I find myself most of the time doing my best to keep them quiet or still during the prayers. Still, every week I think of that story and if they kids cooperate, I work very hard to listen well the first time because I might not be lucky enough that week to hear it twice. I don't know if I've said anything that makes sense, but it works for me and I guess that is what is most important.

Another talk I enjoy listening to, because I have it on CD, is called "Teaching Your Children to Fly" and it's by Marilee Brown Boyack. It's another funny talk, but it is about the importance of teaching children skills and chores so they can grow up to be independent adults. I love this! In the immediate moment, it's good because I have helpers in cleaning and caring for the house - I'm teaching them house care, right? In the long term it is great because they will go out into the world and be prepared to care for themselves and not need me constantly. When you have the skills, you are much happier, even when the skill is laundry and clean clothes.

My boys don't believe me as I try to teach them table manners and body hygiene that this isn't for my benefit. While it makes me happy to have them use good manners and not stink, a day will come then they will try to be impressing a girl and these things will make her happy.

So, I search for inspiration. Searching for ways to make me a happy, better person and my children happy and better people. While I see the good in it, I'm having a hard time convincing my kids that it is good for them too... They scoff at the chore list and and get angry and moody about doing them, but I know that their cleaning the house is good for their future. :)