Just when I had moved the entire contents of the fridge onto the kitchen table, I heard a plaintive little cry from the bedroom. My four-year-old was awakening, and I went in to get her up.

When I entered the room, she was sitting up with her arms outstretched, her face flushed and her eyes tearful.

"Hold me, Mommy!" her little voice pleaded.

"Okay, just for a minute. Mommy has lots to do today. Let’s get you dressed and ready. Then you can play quietly while I do my work."

As I started to take her nightgown off, I noticed she was very warm and listless.

"Just hold me, Mommy, please!"

I spent my day holding her, rocking her, reading to her. This was God’s plan for my day.

We were at a wedding reception, sitting at a table with three other couples we had never met. My husband chatted easily with the person next to him, but I felt uneasy and out-of-place.

I couldn’t think of anything to say and became irritated at how well my husband was blending in, laughing and at ease with everyone.

Finally, the woman next to me, a beautiful, self-assured young woman, tried to draw me into conversation. "And what do you do?" she asked.

For a moment, I couldn’t think of a thing to say. What do I do? Have you got an hour, lady?! All the things I do in the course of a day! But would any of them seem important to her?

How could I put into words the joy and fulfillment I experience in mothering my seven children and home-schooling three of them?

I plunged in and began speaking about my life, my family, my motherhood, and all the little things I do. When I stopped speaking, there was a pregnant pause, and then she said with tears in her eyes, "How blessed you are!"

Lord, you have created me to love, and you chose each of my children just for me, to be loved by me and to be raised by me. May I embrace this holy vocation and believe in its dignity. Even when I feel unappreciated, may I always recognize in myself my dignity as God’s child.

I offer all I do, to you for the salvation of my family.

Mary, my mother, be with me in all the little things I do throughout the day. Help me to know the duty of the moment and to embrace it joyfully.

— Adapted from Mothering, pp. 11, 12, 15 and 17. Available from MH Publications.

Posie, whose family came to Cana Colony and whose children are now grown up, works for MH Publications.