Parenthood "Is What God Gave [Us] Time For"

For me, full-time employment and parenthood have at least two things in common: each is tremendously fulfilling and rigorously exhausting. After I've given a full day's mental power to my employer, I come home, often a bit frazzled from the day's hectic news cycle, to a loving wife, an energetic and demanding four-year-old "princess of everything" and a hold-me-or-I'll-cry-like-a-banshee baby. 

Both the professional world and the home require the best of body and mind, leaving my batteries completely spent at day's end. Sleep comes easy. It's all so reminiscent of my missionary days in Ukraine — after walking all day and speaking a foreign language, my body and mind were drained. I can count the number of sleepless nights in two years on one hand. I wish I could say say the same about parenthood, but the girls provide plenty of sleepless nights.

Today, as I put the girls to bed, I'm reminded of two insightful comments about the importance of parenthood. Each provides needed hope to the weary young father and mother who, like my wife and I, expend most available muscle and brain power to raise a family.

Writing about motherhood (though I think it applies equally to fathers), author Rachel Jankovic says being a parent is "not a hobby, it is a calling. You do not collect children because you find them cuter than stamps. It is not something to do if you can squeeze the time in. It is what God gave you time for." 

That last line, "it is what God gave you time for," rolls through my mind as a gentle reminder several times a day when I wish I had more time to do things I sometimes think are more important, such as reading good books and improving my writing (yes, I'm a nerd). Certainly these things are good, but not always best; devoting my time and attention to my children is always best, yet I often forget the fact.

The other quote comes from Elder M. Russell Ballard. Like Jankovic, his comment is about motherhood, but I think it clearly applies to both parents. He tells us to "recognize that the joy of [parenthood] comes in moments. There will be hard times and frustrating times. But amid the challenges, there are shining moments of joy and satisfaction." 

For me, these moments come every night as I walk our youngest to sleep in the kitchen, her head resting on my shoulder and warming my neck, her nose or mouth wheezing softly. Then, when I'm about to leave the apartment in the mornings, our youngest silently calls me to stay home from work, sometimes with her peaceful posture while asleep, other times wide awake and smiling, looking straight at me with her beautiful blue eyes as I walk past the crib. These moments, though brief, are foretastes of heaven, wrapped in 6-9 month jammies.

As difficult as life's sharp side-by-side contrast of bitter and sweet can be, these brief moments of simple yet deep joy make it worthwhile.