Wondrous Variety

On Mothers' Day I got to be in Relief Society. The squeaky, newly sustained RS presidency talked on President Uchtdorf's talk from some years back entitled Happiness, Your Heritage. One part of the lesson was about creation and a thought clicked into my head as the teacher discussed the wondrous variety of God's creation. I suddenly remembered an argument had by a few missionaries while on my mission. We were all in one of the smoothie shops prevalent in Brazil. This one was small, we were packed in on a Pday, trying to decide which delicious Brazilian fruits to have in our refreshing smoothies. Brazil is a country of extremely varied climates, from the Amazon rain forest, to coastal waters, equatorial heat to desert, to southern cooler climates. All this variety means that there are varieties of fruits that exist only in certain parts of Brazil and nowhere else in the world. Açaí and guaraná are two that have made their way onto the world nutritional stage as "super foods." But there are so many that these missionaries were comparing fruits of their home regions and discussing rather heatedly the benefits of each. I had this memory flash in my mind along with memories of some of these crazy fruit, along with other more sedate varieties I can still get like dragon fruit, star fruit, mango, papaya etc. And the thought that clicked in was that if God expressed so much variety, so much creativity in the vegetation of the earth, why should I think that He prescribes only a certain kind of motherhood, personhood, or expression of talents? The world creates so many round holes and tries to cram all our various shapes, whether they be square or star shaped into them. I don't know if this has always been so, or is a product of the industrial revolution and assembly line production. Schools teach our kids in a prescribed way that is notoriously hard on boys. They are more and more tied to standardized tests. We see our worth as mothers, as workers, and people measured and found wanting on the cover of every magazine for not being someone's ideal of air brushed perfection. It is so exhausting; so very daunting. How do I teach my children to be themselves most truly while at the same time teaching them how to get along in the world and listen to the Spirit guide them to their celestial natures? All while wrestling with my own failure to listen, to know, to be true to my truest self, to even know which that should be.

Ultimately, I just have to keep plugging, keep praying, keep creating each new day and not get too discouraged when many look more like jaca than like carambola. God truly loves wondrous variety.