Dealing With Souls

Our Stake Primary President visited the week before last, and when I mentioned my kids, she asked how many I have.
"Just two," I said, smiling maybe a bit bashfully for having made it sound like I had an army of them in describing getting out the door that morning. But remembering what I had once overheard my mother tell another woman, I added "but it takes all you've got no matter how many you've got!"
And she said "Yes, because you're dealing with souls."
That was thought provoking. And I still might not know exactly what she meant. But it's because I'm "dealing with souls" that makes what I do so important. They need me, and children need mothers in a way that is perhaps unequaled in the rest of the world.
Might I add that this is why mothering children is not the same as caring for dogs? You know some people who say their dogs are their children? If they are unable to have/adopt children, I get it. Otherwise, I don't.
It's a big deal to have kids. It's a big deal to be a mom. Today, as I think about all of that, I feel really grateful and blessed and even lucky that I get to be a stay at home mom. I get to care for my children in my home. I love what I do. I don't have to keep a job somewhere.
I usually focus on the other side of the matter, that there are women who would criticize what I do. Today I'm realizing that there are a lot of women who probably wish they could have what I have. I would, too...because even if it's the hardest thing in the world, it's the best thing in the world.