'Behold Your Little Ones'

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As Mothers Day has been approaching and is now here... I have been thinking a lot about motherhood and about the child that I love so much... Aaron Jr.

Some of my favorite verses in the scriptures are ones where the Savior is interacting with children.

'Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God.'
~ Mark 10:14

One of my very favorites is this one:

'...and he took their little children, one by one, and blessed them, and prayed unto the Father for them. And when he had done this he wept again;

And he spake unto the multitude, and said unto them: Behold your little ones.

And as they looked to behold they cast their eyes towards heaven, and they saw the heavens open, and they saw angels descending out of heaven as it were in the midst of fire; and they came down and encircled those little ones about, and they were encircled about with fire; and the angels did minister unto them.
~ 3 Nephi 17:21-24

'Behold your little ones'

When I was young and I would hear this part of the scripture or I would read this part, the word BEHOLD was not familiar to me, so I used to think it meant to simply HOLD their little ones, but that BEHOLD must be a fancier way of saying it. So, I always pictured that Jesus was telling these parents to HOLD their little ones... which is also a really great thing for us to do. And when reading it, I pictured Jesus holding those little ones... which I am sure He was holding them.
But as I have gotten older and have now known what the word BEHOLD means... I have often wondered why Jesus would tell the parents to 'BEHOLD YOUR LITTLE ONES'.

In the dictionary, I found this definition:

behold: to look at and consider

I am sure this happens to all mothers at some point, and it happens to me often. I will be going about my day and I will happen to look at Aaron Jr and just watch him and all of a sudden, I will feel this overwhelming love for him. Not just a thought in my head about how much I love him, but an overwhelming FEELING of absolutely pure love for him. I love it when that happens.

When I thought about this scripture where it says 'Behold your little ones'... I thought of those experiences where I look at Aaron Jr and feel that pure love for him.

TO LOOK AT AND CONSIDER

Just like last month when I was dwelling on the heartaches of life, when I LOOKED AT Aaron Jr one night, I felt that love for him and then because of that love, I CONSIDERed him and what I needed to be doing for him. I CONSIDERed HIM... I CONSIDERed his needs and his hopes and the joy I could and should be bringing to him. That is when I decided to make sure I was CONSIDERing HIM more than considering ME. And it isn't just for him that I want to do this... I feel better about myself when I am putting my son before myself. I feel better when I am CONSIDERing HIM. So, these verses that have been favorites for so long mean even more to me now. I love thinking about it this way... it makes sense to me.

Just some food for thought...

So, this Mothers Day... I am so grateful to be a Mom. I am grateful for the opportunity I have to stay at home with Aaron Jr. I am grateful for the Mothers in my own life who are such great examples of motherhood and the joys of it. I am grateful for my own Mom and the example she is. I am grateful for the mother she was/ is and the love she has always shown to all of her children and grandchildren.

I LOVE MOTHERHOOD... I love my son. I am so blessed !

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