Minor Imperfections

"They say that nobody is perfect. Then they tell you practice makes perfect. I wish they'd make up their minds."

-Winston Churchill

"Mother, when would you say it happened? The day I turned into a perfectionist." When did I set out on my quest to find the perfect donut recipe or the best organic peanut butter? My life has turned into such a stressful search for the "best" way to do everything that I seem to forget what it was like before.

I remember the Christmas, when I was 10 years old, when I got the Cabbage Patch doll from Aunt Maxine. It was a bittersweet day, the day that I opened Gussie Toby underneath the Christmas Tree. I had desperately wanted a Cabbage Patch Doll so that, I too, could send in my adoption papers to Xavier Roberts. My happiness, however, was short lived due to the 3 or 4 strands of yarn that sat disheveled on her orange dolly head. I tried to smooth them back into place but it was no use. The doll was defective. I never really loved her the way that a mother should. She was replaced by Sadie Madie on my 11th birthday.

That was so many hair styles ago, and yet I still can't seem to get it together. Today was the first day of Semi-annual General Conference for our church. It was a day to be spiritually fed and replenished. I looked forward to it after a busy week of whipping up another slew of healthy and delicious sack lunches, penning the perfect Primary program, laundering every washable item in my home, etc., etc. Thankfully, one of the main themes that I have taken away from today's talks was a need to simplify our lives.

It reminded me of my favorite talk from last fall's General Conference. It was given by Sister Julie B. Beck, the General Relief Society President of our church. She said,

"Mothers Who Know Do Less. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's goods in order to spend more time with their children--more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing, and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord's kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.

Mother's Who Know Do Less."

I don't know what I would do without my testimony of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I know that God loves me and that he has a plan for me. I want my children to know what I know. The best way to teach them is to eliminate the unnecessary and focus on the mandatory. I want to be a mother that "Does Less."