Millennium and motherhood today

When Satan in bound in a single home,
When Satan is bound in a single life,
The millennium has already begun.
In that home,
In that life.

President Spencer W. Kimball

I saw this quote on the refrigerator of my friend and it rooted deeply into me, as if I had been waiting for it, looking for it most my life but wasn't aware of any of this.

I like it because it means that I don't have to wait for the millennium to start. It can start in me today.

For me it says I can be ready now, my family can be ready now. I can be in the Savior's presence now. For me it is about creating a space where the Savior can BE, welcome, comfortable and Himself, in all His Light and Truth. That is about the powerful affects of the atonement in my life if I repent I have access to Him. It is about my readiness in mind, my willingness of heart and my desire to seek the spirit when creating a space, a home where this happens. I can be ready for Him, I can create a home that is ready for Him.

When I depend on Christ to make myself and my home ready, He comes. While I wait on the Lord (DC 98:1-3), while I wait for the Lord, I will be nor more worhty to be in His presence then, than now. He has keep His promise to redeem me, I can do mine.

When am I in the presence of God and what am I doing to create this readiness in my home. For me one of the most powerful tools I have the Holy Ghost. I try to teach my children to practice hearing him. What does he feel like to you? What does he sound like to you? How does he speak to you? I ask them.

I try to ask them daily when they recognized his voice and influence in their lives. I must know these things of myself or I cannot guide them in this process. I have not been surprised that when they most feel him, is when they are still, quiet, paying attention to their "inner man", when they most FEEL themselves, they feel the Holy Ghost enLIGHTEN them. Any distraction prohibits this, screen time is one more, plentiful distraction. Like anything else priority and balance must be given to times of reflection.

I can teach my children what I do to create that quiet time with prayer, scriptures the temple etc. but the real challenge is to teach how it feels to open their heart, keep it soft, letting love in and yielding to God, for HIS glory.

The truth is I cannot give them a testimony of Christ, or I cannot give them the feeling of the Holy Ghost. I cannot make them want to soften their heart or give them intent to glorify God; not me or themselves. I can only help them identify who the Holy Ghost is and what his purpose is and how he feels. In their young age it is their responsibility to recognize him, listen to him and come to know Christ. I can believe that they are fully capable of doing this.

I can only learn these doctrines (2 Ne 31:21, 3 Ne 11: 31-41) of myself and then the most I believe I can do is to share them with my children in pure testimony. I am completely dependent as a mother on the Holy Ghost to teach them to "Understand" (DC 68:25) to "carry it into their heart" (2 Ne 33:1),to give them desire to love Christ and "convert" (Is 6:10)them to their Savior.

My responsibility as a mom is to secure the right kind of time, and the right kind of space, and be a witness of the Holy Ghost and His purpose (while I'm doing the dishes or tucking them or driving them to school).

This is motherhood and ushering in the millennuim in my life and in my home. It is creating a space where my children want to know Christ, love Him and desire to give their will to Him over and over and over again....because after all they are my children and these are the last days.