The intent; to share goodness.

As a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, we have been asked to share goodness on several occasions. We have been counseled through talks, and thoughts from several of our leaders.  We have been asked to use social media to share that which is good.

Some of the ideas of what to share that our church lists are:

1. What simple truths are you grateful for?

2. What happy moments did you have during a hard day?

3. What did someone do for you today?

Sharing pictures via instagram, or a nice thought on Facebook are some of the ways we can #sharegoodness.

This is a challenge that I want to extend to everyone; members of the LDS faith or otherwise.

We could all use a little more goodness in our lives.

It serves as a reminder that even on the hardest days, good things are happening too.

It’s important to find those things and document them.

It always brings a smile to my face when I see good happening to others. 

I love nothing more then seeing some happy greeting posted by a friend on instagram.

As I listened to this talk this morning, I felt an even stronger desire to share goodness and light.

In this talk, Sister Marriot quoted Elder Todd D. Christopherson.  His quote buoy’s me up and strengthens me to share more.

Elder Christopherson  said, “In all events, a mother can exert an influence unequaled by any other person in any other relationship.”

My intent is to use my blog as a mother and a friend to share more goodness.

Just over a week ago, I watched this video put out by our church.  This is the goodness I choose to share today.

This beautiful video struck a cord with me.  I felt the filmmakers captured just how real motherhood can be.  I felt as though I was watching myself in that film.

I have recently read some controversy that is surrounding the film.  I know that different events touch or reach people in different ways.  Often times we see things through the eyes of whatever is happening in our life at the moment.

There are some that are worried that this movie teaches us that we should do more, never say no, and back down to our children.

I am sharing this because that is the goodness of this film.

The goodness is we have all done those things at one time or another. 

This film captures the realities of life.

If you have ever as a mother:

laid in your bed in the morning looking at your phone, dreading getting up

picked a battle with your child over food; and you let them win

knelt in prayer and said it in a hurried tone just to get on with your day

bailed your child out of something that was their responsibility, even when you didn’t have time

you probably did it because you love them; not because you needed to teach them something

took your kids to school in your jammies; and then finally got yourself ready close to lunch time

said “yes” to a friend or neighbor when you had other things to do

maybe you changed your plans because you felt prompted to help, and knew your stuff could wait

started a project in the middle of the day that you knew would not get finished

made a to-do list that you forgot to look at

lent your shoulder to a friend or a sister whose life was so different than yours that she would never understand what your day might be like, instead you tried to help her with hers

you could really use someone to talk to, but kept your feelings to yourself

tried to squeeze something in that you knew you didn’t have time for and would cause you stress

and in doing so forgot to take all the steps in the process

absolutely wanted to cry and felt defeated when you missed out on the one thing YOU wanted to do that day

yelled at your kids because you were upset about something that had nothing to do with them

were reminded of the simple things we should be doing each day; by your children

were reminded of God’s love for you through the simple words of a child?

If you have ever done one of these things, or all of these things; then watching and understanding this film is for you.

The intent of this film is to show you the good you do.

Sometimes we are led to do the things God needed us to do that day, instead of the things we wanted to.

God isn’t saying we should take on more then we can handle.

What he is saying is, “I wish you could see, I wish you could truly see the results of all your labors.”

YOU never know how much good you do; even when your day doesn’t go as planned.

If you haven’t watched this film, please take the time to do so.

If you have, watch it again with new eyes.  Eyes that show you just how wonderful you are.

Please don’t use the eyes that make you feel guilty because you think you need to do more.

For that dear sisters; is not the intent.