Whew--

Insert big sigh of relief--what a difference a year (no, THIS year) makes. But, I did it. It is Monday and I am here; without hardly any back sliding! As the weekend approached it loomed over me. I am writing a bit dramatically, aren't I? Well, anyway, I issued a warning: "I don't want to celebrate Mother's day, we haven't really gotten along all that well". Kelly reminded me that it is all perspective, be thankful for what is good and real, and not dwell on the expectations. You aren't perfect, but you are perfect for us. And with those words, and his loving look, I decided to trust what he said. It worked. We kept it low key and even the talks in Sacrament were about the influence and divine nature of women, not about someone else's perfect mother. Sort of like what Michael McLean had to say about his talk on Mother's Day. I loved it so I thought I would share it: "And then, at the moment of truth, it hit me that what I’d planned to say wasn’t what I needed to say, and what I needed to say was this: In my reading of the scriptures I haven’t found Jesus repeatedly criticizing women. Never found the passage where He complained about a meal, disliked the decorating, was annoyed by the mounds of undone laundry, was disappointed in a relief society lesson, wished the sister’s jogged a little more regularly, or quit resorting to Cheerios as pacifiers during church. No. He came to lift them up, help them discover their value in a society (the early first century) that wouldn’t trust women to testify in court. Jesus trusted the first testimony of His resurrection to a woman. And the women who received testimonies of His divinity are the ones who taught their children, and their sisters, and brothers, and family and friends what He and His gospel was all about."

No talk of perfection, just a reminder about doing your best. Some "bests" are better than mine, but I am only judged by my best. If I look around and try to live my life according to that view, I never win. But, when I look up and try to live my life according to His view, I see the good, the "wins" and I see hope. Hope is what keeps you standing when your world rocks. Sometimes your best is just hanging on to hope till you get your feet back on solid ground and then other times your best is just taking one step at a time to actually start moving forward again--with the hope that one day your best will be running again.

This is a great song, although I didn't much care of the video-so I would listen and not necessarily watch!