A mess is a mess, unless....

I work from home, as a homemaker

It’s my eighth year at this job

My performance might make you question

Who the heck hired this slob?

I should mention my four children

The obedient, the clown, the climber, and the happy

I also have a honey, I love him

I’d say more, but this would get sappy

My morning begins with my alarm

It says “Mommy, I need breakfast now!”

In the kitchen I unload the dishwasher

While the kids scarf down their chow

The dishwasher still open

Half the dishes put away

I leave to pack up Obedient

And send him off for the day

It’s then I think to feed the dog

And tend to laundry that’s nearby

But of course, this is about the time

That Happy starts to cry

When I finish feeding my baby

I notice the messy floor

“I need to pick this up” I think

“Why didn’t I do this before?”

I ask Clown and Climber to help

They know where everything goes

But change my mind when I see all the skin

And say “Lets go put on some clothes.”

The hallway sure needs vacuumed

I’ve just plugged in the cord

When Clown asks me to play with him

And hands me his foam sword

I have big plans to clean today

I do, I really do

But Climber just fell and cut herself

<Sigh> so much for follow through

We’re back from the store, how stressful

Last nerve, but I’m trying not to shout

“Let’s put away the groceries guys”

No wait, Happy had a blow-out

The bills make me miss my days

At the computer in the ‘cube’

But as much as I’d like to pay them

Clown and Climber prefer YouTube

Obedient home from school

Dinner is smelling nice

There’s that open dishwasher

But homework needs checked twice

I’ll do it when they’re sleeping

I’ll deal with the debris

But Honey needs some time he says

And so we watch TV

Someday you’ll see my home

It’s ok to think the worst

It’s not that I don’t try; it’s just

My family, not my job

My family comes first

What I thought of..... Later.....

I don't say much during Sunday School every week. The reason is simple: I'm a slow thinker. When I get home though, I've finally processed things and I find I have opinions to share. Well, too late.

I realized today, I could write them down anyway.

Today our lesson was comparing Nephi to Laman/Lemuel. As you can expect it was a "Nephi is good because..." list vs. a "Laman/Lemuel are bad because...." list.

At one point, a sister in the class confessed to relating more with L/L's murmuring than with Nephi's quick obedience.

Soon after, our teacher pointed out that as soon as God asked Nephi to build a boat, his response was immediately 'I will go and do as thou asks' (paraphrasing). Our teacher expressed surprise at Nephi's fast and faithful response. He said had he been given the same charge, his first response would be 'How the heck am I going to build a boat!?'

So, here is where I would go back and chime in. I think we've set up Nephi as being a little too perfect. The Book of Nephi is not a complete view of the inner-workings of Nephi's mind. If God were to ask me to build a boat, I think it's fine, and totally human to think first 'How the heck am I going to build a boat?'

Faith is an action. From Nephi's words, we believe Nephi had unwavering faith. I think we can assume that between the time Nephi received revelation about building a boat, and his prayerful response to the Lord that he would obey, Nephi was only human. He could have been thinking a hundred different things. I don't want to take away from the good example set by Nephi in this story; just point out the possibility that accepting God's words could have been a process for Nephi. But like they say, thoughts lead to actions; and his action was obedience.

My favorite scripture story is Esther. The reason is Esther 4:11. Her uncle Mordecai has asked that she speak to the king on behalf of the Jews. Her first response is that she will most likely die if she tries. She uses valuable time to send that message to her uncle and wait for a response. This is, oh, so very human. Of course she was worried for her own life. Who wouldn't be? In the end, she was courageous and a heroine because she risked her life anyway. But this story is more real to me than any other.

I love that the scriptures can teach us so much. Many many lessons we learn from many stories. Even many lessons from one story. Today, had I been a faster thinker, I would have tried to remind those around me that because I believe the scriptures are true stories of real people, it's ok to see them as real people. No one is really perfect.