Joy in my Posterity

I can't fully express how much joy I have in my children. I love them so completely. And it's not just my love for them which fills me. It is the mere knowledge of their existence that makes me happy. I love them. It is particularly touching to see or hear my 2 year old telling her 4 month old brother about the gospel. Just yesterday she pulled a chair over in front of him in his bouncy seat, sat down and said, "I'm gunna tell you a story." Then her voice changed to theatrical sober concern: "Jesus died. He buried in a stone. He have a marks in hands." Then sudden jubilation: "Jesus rise again! He love us!"

I love my children. I am enjoying exceedingly this time I have with them while they are so young and learning so quickly. And I am so excited to have more. Sometimes I will be sitting with my family, often at the dinner table, my toddler on my left side while I bounce my infant in his seat on the floor with my right foot, when suddenly I will see with my minds eye the table surrounded by children of various ages. A toddler is still there, but it is no longer Willow, and my baby is still there, but it is no longer Rhys. I look out across the faces of my children, my family, and continue bouncing the newest addition as my heart overflows with love and awe at what is in store for me. This is not a fantasy born of fixation, a delusion I induce in myself because I desire it so much, but an unexpected gift, a vision of what can or will be, a taste of the joy in my posterity promised to all of us, just as to Adam and Eve as we fulfill the commandment to "multiply and replenish the earth" (Genesis 1:28).

I can't imagine more happiness in my life than as a mother.