Becoming

As I sat on the floor contemplating my life, my three year old brushing my hair into tangles, my one year old driving his red Hot Wheels car across my face, I thought to myself, "Is this it? Am I fulfilling some divine role as I act as a human playground? Am I really on the path of some eternal destiny as I change diapers, wipe faces, and clean up mess after mess after mess (of course only to find another mess there 5 minutes later)? Where is that premortal sign up sheet... are you sure I really signed up for this?"
And then the answer resonates in my heart. YES.

Because even when it seems like you can't play one more round of Candy Land or Memory, even when it seems like you can't answer another 3-year-old "WHY" question, even when it seems like you have done the same thing, eaten the same breakfast and lunch, seen the same Disney video 938,487,276,593,000 times, something is happening. Little brains are growing, little personalities are developing, relationships are solidifying, people are BECOMING.

And that's what life is all about anyway. Becoming. It's not the "getting there" that matters - because we will ALL get there eventually. It's WHO YOU ARE when you get there. Who you have become.

Elder Dallin H. Oaks illustrated this principle so eloquently,

"The gospel of Jesus Christ is a plan that shows us how to become what our Heavenly Father desires us to become.”

"Now is the time for each of us to work toward our personal conversion, toward becoming what our Heavenly Father desires us to become. As we do so, we should remember that our family relationships—even more than our Church callings—are the setting in which the most important part of that development can occur. The conversion we must achieve requires us to be a good husband and father or a good wife and mother. Being a successful Church leader is not enough. Exaltation is an eternal family experience, and it is our mortal family experiences that are best suited to prepare us for it."("The Challenge to Become," Ensign, Nov. 2000, 32).

My Uncle Stan is a sculptor by profession. I have been to his shop on several occasions and there are often multiple mountains of clay - each having it's own grand scheme, all ready to BECOME something. I have seen one mountain change over night as he carves away massive chunks of clay to get the basic form of the statue. Then is seems to sit and sit for months on end, never appearing to change much because the change is in the fine details. Tiny tools are used to carefully turn faceless spheres into recognizable figures. True god-given talent spins "matter unorganized" into masterpieces. But it's a long tedious process. Especially if you get stuck in the details and forget to step away from the clay for a moment to see how it's all coming together.

"Calm as a Summers Morning" sculpted by Stan Watts and Kim Corpany

Kinda like parenting. It can be a long tedious process sometimes when you are trying to use your God-given opportunity of being a parent to spin "matter unorganized" aka "children" into a masterpiece. And it is SO EASY to get stuck in the details. A peanut butter jelly sandwich sliced in triangles - not squares. A hot dog, served cold, cut into bites, with mustard and ketchup, and a toothpick. The 15th load of laundry TODAY. Those are all tedious, time staking, mind numbing actions whose monotony can drive ANYONE to the loony bin - - - UNLESS YOU STEP BACK. Take a look at the sculpture. Take a look at what they're BECOMING - and what YOU'RE BECOMING TOO.

And hopefully what you will see is "the image of Christ engraven on your countenance"(Alma 5:19). And when I think of THAT, things like THIS don't seem that bad.

Because it's all about BECOMING.