Motherhood 101

From Henry B. Eyring's talk, "A Law of Increasing Returns" 

"The other day, Elizabeth, age two, saw the picture of her father in the paper. She said, “That’s Dad. He wants to change with me.” That doesn’t mean much to you. In fact, it might even confuse you because you might not know she means help her father change, not get changed herself. It means a lot to me because I’m the guy who sits on the floor when she says, “You sit here.” I’ll tell you something. All she has to do is hand me those shoe trees one time and then say, “Let me kiss your head” (which, as you can see, is easy to hit), and you can mark anything owed me on the marriage account “Paid in full.”

I recognize that’s easy for a father to say. Mothers invest so much more in children that a kiss from a little girl still leaves a lot for the future. Men and women working outside the home deal mostly with early crops and with the law of diminishing returns. In the home, they spend far more on late crops and the law of increasing returns. It’s important to remember that. It could help a woman understand why arguments for a career and little time spent rearing children are so tempting. And it might help a man understand why a child trampling on the teachings of the home may tear at his wife even more than at him. His paycheck comes often. Hers may come a few times in her life. And now perhaps, because of the choice of a child, one check may not come at all. 

But for men and women, obsessed as they should be with the eternal results that take so long, it helps to see the blessings already in hand. The prettiest flowers I’ve ever seen were among rocks near the tops of mountains. That must have been partly because I worked so hard to get there, for something else. And then, suddenly, there they were. By forcing yourself to look at them, at the blessings around you, it will be easy to do what King Benjamin suggested: “O how you ought to thank your heavenly King!” (Mosiah 2:19).

Among the reasons we ought to be thankful is that it will improve our vision. And with an eye on today’s blessings you’ll have more staying power for the distant goal."

O how this helps me to always wish I would be stronger and more giving, exerting more and enduring well.