Some Thoughts

Readers Beware. The following content, I realize, is mostly for my benefit and most likely is of no consequence to those reading. It is just some thoughts I've had, and if you feel so inclined to keep reading, than go on ahead. But know that you've been warned and that you could probably care less with the ramblings I've had going on in my head.

I just finished reading a great book called The Alchemist. In it a character relates a story about a boy who visits the wisest man in the world in hopes of learning from him. When it is his turn to speak with the man, the man explains that he is too busy but to come back in a couple of hours after having a look around his castle. Before the boys leaves, the wise man gives the boy a teaspoon of oil and tells him to not allow any of the oil to spill.

After a couple of hours the boy returns and has not spilled any of the oil. However, the wise man asks the boy if he saw his beautiful gardens, or tapestries, or library. The boy admits he didn't notice any of it as he was too concerned with not spilling the oil. The man tells him to go back out and to observe the marvels of the world.

This time the boy does and is captivated by the beauty and wonder around him. When he returns and tells the wise man of all he saw, the man asks about the oil. The boy looks down and saw that the oil was gone.

Then the wise man said this: "Well, there is only one piece if advice I can give you. The secret of happiness is to see all the marvels of the world, and never to forget the drops of oil on the spoon."

I'm sure this little story can have different meaning to different people at different times. However, having just had General Conference it made me think of Elder Ballard's talk. In it he quotes author Anna Quindlen: "The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. . . . I did not live in the moment enough....... I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less."

Combined with the thoughts I had after reading The Alchemist I realize that this is something I need and want to work on. Yes, as a mother I can stay very busy taking care of the oil i.e. housework, grocery shopping, getting kids to where they need to be, cooking, and on and on and on. Now don't get me wrong, these are important things and they need to get done, but am I too busy and preoccupied with it that I am not enjoying the beauty and marvels of each day? Am I "seeing" the gardens and tapestries in my own life? Do I make an effort to enter my children's world rather than dragging them into mine constantly?

And speaking to the occasional (or maybe frequent) monotony of motherhood, another quote from the book, "....when each day is the same as the next, it's because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises."

So hopefully from all of this I will see the good things each day, I will try harder to spend more quality time with my children, to make those precious memories, to hang on to and ENJOY daily the time that I have with them. We all know how quickly they go by, and I want to make the most of them!

Now I just need to act on what I understand to be true. It's easy enough to think and write down what I learn, but to put it into action is a whole different ballgame. I really want to though, because it is something very important to me. So here's to enjoying the tapestries!!!