How Can I Prepare Now To Become A Righteous Wife And Mother?

Get this week's lesson here.

This week I made a worksheet for the YW to fill out to help them mark off some Personal Progress.

Individual Worth Value Experience Four

A couple weeks ago for mutual the girls made time capsules and in it was a list of qualities they wanted in their future spouse.  It's great to look for a husband with a long list of great qualities, but I want the girls to recognize that they need to use this time to improve themselves.

 

SIDE NOTE: My YW leaders growing up used to always tell us, "Every time you volunteer to say the prayer, your future husband gets a little hotter."

I'm gonna break some BIG NEWS to the girls this week... It's up there with Santa Claus and "the birds and the bees" talk.

MARRIAGE IS HARD!!!

Disney gives us completely unrealistic expectations about love.  You wont just find the perfect guy, ride off into the sunset, and live happily ever after.  It's gonna take some work.

What happens when you see your crush walking down the hallway at school?  Does your heart flutter, or do you feel butterflies in your stomach, or think about him all the time?  When you fall in love, you get all these physical chemicals going through you.  Being in the presence of the person you're attracted to triggers the release of dopamine and you associating that rush of adrenaline with the person you love  (which is why you feel like you're in a magical fairy tale).  I think Heavenly Father wants us to feel that way in the beginning!

But, a couple years after you're married, that dopamine high begins to trickle back down to normal and we see this person we fell in love with more realistically.  We realize they're human beings and have flaws just like us, and we discover that the things about them we used to think were adorable can actually be kind of hard to live with.

But this is a good thing.  When you get married and ESPECIALLY when you have kids, you get to live in a way that allows you to practice being more like the Savior and develop Christ-like attributes.

The best marriage advice I ever received was this...

STOP SITTING AROUND WAITING FOR YOUR NEEDS TO BE MET, AND GET UP AND SERVE THE OTHER PERSON

I wish I was more aware of the sacrifices my mom made for me when I was growing up.  I think I'll give the girls a few extra minutes as the end of class to write their mothers a Thank You note and show them how much they appreciate all that they do.

I am so grateful for the great example my mom was to me.  If I turn out to be even a fraction of the person she is someday, I'll know I'm doing something right.