"Giving birth is an ecstatic jubilant adventure not available to males.

It is a woman's crowning creative experience of a lifetime." ~ Dr. John Stevenson



"The Road Less Traveled..." of Parenthood

Following your instincts instead of the crowd

"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood...I took the one less traveled by and that has made all the difference."

Robert Frost

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Multiply and Replenish

I love this video. I may have posted it before but I don't care. It really shares how I feel about being a mother. I came across it today while reading about my church's official position on having children on a very thought-provoking blog post on "Women in the Scriptures." Of course, I had to comment on it. First I quoted a previous comment and then added my own thoughts:

"What is the main blessing of exaltation? Eternal increase. If we refuse that blessing and responsibility in this life, how could we expect to be worthy of it in the next?"

I think a lot of it comes down to our attitude towards having children. I am thrilled with the doctrine of eternal increase. Sadly, though, I know many members who are not. In all fairness I have to add that I haven't always felt this way. My attitude has changed as my testimony has grown and as I've tried to distance myself from worldly philosophies that the Spirit has confirmed are not good.

Another huge leap forward in my attitude towards having children comes from having birthed my last three children at home. In a sacred, private atmosphere and in an unmedicated state, it is so much easier to really understand and appreciate just how profound is this amazing privilege of bringing children into the world. I can't speak for everyone, of course, but for me I only felt that to a very small degree during my medicated hospital births.

I am so grateful for this post because it confirms what my heart has told me for years. And I'm so grateful I followed my heart after my 4th child in not doing anything permanent. Otherwise I would have missed out on some of the greatest and most spiritually empowering experiences of my life.

I should have added: Not to mention 3 of the cutest little kids you ever saw!

Anyway, enjoy this video. It gives me the chills. When I read the words to my 5 year old, Charles, I started to cry as I thought of the life-changing choice I made in my later years to have 3 more children. One of the best decisions of my life. =)



(I actually found the video on a blog called Multiply and Replenish that was referenced in the comments at the Women in the Scriptures blog.)

2 comments:

Lani said...

Bonnie- I just wanted to thank you for your comments on my birth story and my post about possibly being done having babies. I just barely read them now because they got lost in the Spam comments that I've been having trouble keeping under control. I still have thousands to moderate! Ugh. But I so appreciated your comments and insights. And this post here on your blog really touches me also. I am feeling more and more comfortable with the idea of having more babies. Did you see the post I wrote about my "vanishing twin"--Surrender, part 5? Writing the post and processing the experience gave me the chance to receive some powerful revelation about it all... and to recognize that there is still at least one more baby who is very set on coming to our family. Anyway... thanks so much!

Bonnie said...

Just barely read your post about the vanishing twin. Wow! It makes so much sense. I remember reading about your mid-term gloom and depression and was really sad that you had to go through that. I was also really perplexed as to why it happened. It kind of shook my ideas of being able to avoid stuff like that during a healthy pregnancy. But now it totally makes sense.

It's also interesting to me that it was a dream about a twin I didn't know of that helped me to know there is one more child for us. I don't think she was actually a vanishing twin like yours since I didn't have the experience after the birth like you did. I just think it was Heavenly Father's way to let me know there is one more little girl for our family.