[The following is an excerpt from Motherhood Matters: Joyful Reminders of the Divinity, Reality, and Rewards of Motherhood, by Connie Sokol. Purchase links below.]
“Sister Marjorie Pay Hinckley shares a perfect quote that sums up real motherhood:
“I don’t want to drive up to the pearly gates in a shiny sports car, wearing beautifully, tailored clothes, my hair expertly coiffed, and with long, perfectly manicured fingernails.
I want to drive up in a station wagon that has mud on the wheels from taking kids to scout camp.
I want to be there with a smudge of peanut butter on my shirt from making sandwiches for a sick neighbors children.
I want to be there with a little dirt under my fingernails from helping to weed someone’s garden.
I want to be there with children’s sticky kisses on my cheeks and the tears of a friend on my shoulder.
I want the Lord to know I was really here and that I really lived.”
That is the essence of motherhood. Of course, this doesn’t mean we can’t feel put together or wear trendy clothes, but it does mean that often we won’t, despite our best intentions.
With multiple pregnancies, taking children to activities, getting dinner on the table, and keeping up with family demands, life is first about being a mom, and second about being hip. Designer jeans may be replaced with stretchy pants; or your business suit may be accessorized with peanut butter.
That’s okay. Get in, get messy, and get those manicured nails dirty. President Thomas S. Monson said that if you’re still raising young children, know that the fingerprints that show up on the just-cleaned surfaces, the scattered toys about the house, and the piles of laundry will disappear sooner than you think. And to your surprise, you’ll miss them profoundly.
Don’t worry about “the look.” Yes, do your best and make your home a beautiful place, and present yourself in a lovely manner. But if it doesn’t happen as often you’d like, that’s okay.
Just for today, put on a little lipstick and play hopscotch with your children—in your stretchy pants.”
