You Get What You Need

Yesterday was not a great day. Everyone was tired and grumpy/sassy/mean/argumentative. Bryan had to work late so I was faced with four very loud children who all needed me to pay attention to them at the same time. On top of that, there was a meanness that just wouldn't go away. I begged that we stop the bossing and the critical words, but I was met with deaf ears. It got so bad I didn't something I'd never done before: I told the kids I was done for the night.

At 5:50 I took Topher upstairs, locked my door, and got him into his pajamas. I sat and tried to do his bedtime routine. I was determined not to go back downstairs until either Bryan was home or the kids had found their way to bed. While Topher ate, I thought about what I would read or listen to or watch to keep my very tired self awake. That's when I remembered that I needed to go over my Sunday School lesson for this coming Sunday. I opened the material on my phone and started to read.

One of the talks I was supposed to study wouldn't download from the link in the lesson manual. I tried four or five times and the connection kept failing. I finally decided to go find it a different way. I opened what I thought was the correct set of General Conference talks and started looking for the speaker.

That's when my eyes fell on a talk title that sounded familiar. It wasn't the one I'd been looking for, but I got the distinct impression that it was the one I needed. I listened to the first few minutes of Jeffrey R. Holland's The Tongue of Angels from the April 2007 General Conference, then paused it and decided that I needed to share it with the kids. At that moment Peter knocked on my door. I answered it and he asked if he could give me a hug. I said yes. He told me that while I'd been upstairs the kids had cleaned the previously messy first floor. Topher and I followed him down the stairs and I thanked everyone for cleaning. Cooper had even served the leftovers I'd been preparing when I'd retreated to my room.

Then we all watched the talk together. I paused it halfway through and we talked about what we'd heard, then we finished it. We discussed more about how the teachings applied to us and what we could do to be better. We said family prayers and headed off to do the bedtime routine.

I don't want to have another day like yesterday (though I'm certain we will), but I am thankful that it ended well. And I'm thankful that I was still able to hear the Spirit whisper that we needed to listen to that particular talk. I'm going to count it as a tender mercy.