Loving as He Does

Today I had a bit of an epiphany. After having a less than great discussion at lunch with a few of my sons and feeling like mothering is super overrated, I went and had a nap and hid in my room for awhile. The offending child had gone back to work and the other one knew I needed a break. After a couple of hours of feeling sorry for myself, discouraged as a mother, and all those other crappy feelings I get sometimes, my son still at home knocked on my door to see if I was okay.  "Mom, you have been in here for hours. What have you been doing?" he asked with a tone of concern and a little disgusted. "Sleeping, reading, and hiding," was my answer.

I did get up after that and he helped me clean out the pantry. As we got to the end of the job, I was alone again and I was mulling over the conversation had at lunch.  I think that being a parent, one sees their children in such a different light than a sibling views another sibling. If my child loves something or someone and finds joy there, as a parent, I tend to love that person or thing, too. Simply by virtue of we love to know our children are happy. Siblings are less accepting and often annoyed by the object of their sibling's love. And they feel totally justified in saying how much that "whatever it is" bugs them or hampers their life.

As I was pondering this situation, I had this thought, "That is what it is like for Heavenly Father. He loves his children with that kind of love hoping that His children will somehow learn to love each other enough to put off their own selfish tendencies and help one another.  It is that love that He hopes His children will share. If one of His children knows Him better than another, He hopes that those who know Him will teach and share with those who don't. Love each other. Serve each other. Be kind. Be compassionate. This is how earthly parents want their children to treat each other. How much greater does Heavenly Father want that for His children?

It was a good thought and I hope I remember it for a long, long time.