The realities of parenthood

I really enjoyed This article in January 2016's ensign.  I especially appreciated this last line "Bearing children is neither easy nor convenient, but it is a commandment that helps us realize the real blessings of mortality."  Yes, being a parent is difficult it brings the greatest joy but can also bring Distress and sorrow (especially in times of sleep deprivation accompanied by two crying babies) but being able to expand my vision of motherhood (through remembering it is a commandment which therein brings great blessings for obeying and constant help and direction from God, not to mention having the precious knowledge that it is this amazing opportunity to learn and understand the nature of Heavenly Father and develop God like qualities in doing so) makes it an amazing and humbling experience that I am SO grateful for!

Here's the article:

"Reality Number 3: Bearing and raising children helps us develop our capacity to become like God.

At the time He “blessed,” or sealed, Adam and Eve to create the first family on earth,7 God gave them a commandment: be fruitful, multiply, and replenish the earth (see Genesis 1:28; Moses 2:28). Marriage and children go together. The procreative powers that make mortal birth possible are to be used only between a man and a woman, legally and lawfully wedded.8

Adam and Eve understood that bearing children was an important reality of mortality. They obeyed God’s commandment, “and Adam knew his wife, and she bare unto him sons and daughters, and they began to multiply and to replenish the earth” (Moses 5:2). Prophets in our day have declared that “God’s commandment for His children to multiply and replenish the earth remains in force.”9

In today’s world, however, many people no longer believe that “children are an heritage of the Lord” (Psalm 127:3).

Several years ago, a couple who was about to marry came to me. They asked for my advice regarding children. I reminded them of the commandment they would receive when they were sealed, and I counseled them that they could keep this commandment in counsel with the Lord. I reminded them that it is a commandment like tithing, Sabbath observance, or other commandments. Once a covenant is made, the question is not whether to keep it but how to keep it in a way that is pleasing to and approved by the Lord.

I watched as they started their marriage. He had a year left of undergraduate studies, and she had another year in a master’s program. They felt directed to have their family immediately—despite the schooling and uncertainty over future jobs. It was not easy or convenient to have a child so soon. He had to search for a job, they had to move, and she had to finish her degree. They faced stress and sacrifice. He had to rush home each day and watch the baby while she completed her thesis and practical training. She studied and wrote between nursing and changing diapers.

The Lord has blessed and prospered them. While many others lost jobs in the economic turndown of 2008, he was retained and promoted. Because they lived frugally, they are out of debt except for a mortgage, and they have since been able to completely pay for a master’s program with no debt. All the while, they have continued to learn the valuable lessons that can come only with parenthood. Bearing children is neither easy nor convenient, but it is a commandment that helps us realize the real blessings of mortality."