Introduction to the Power of Love

The power of love! Which Top 40 song comes to your mind? (Me? Huey Lewis – like, totally.)

Love is such a big, broad subject – it’s a bit daunting to tackle without sounding generic. What can we add to the volumes and volumes already written on the subject?

This month you’ll see articles on:

• “Mother Love” – while love may come more naturally to mothers holding a soft and helpless newborn than to grown-ups on a quest to find Mr. or Mrs. Right, it can still get pretty complicated. For example, while we may not always like our children, we always love them. But do they know that? (Especially those teenagers!) Having every member of the family (including Mom) feel more love in the home is just one of our goals as we discuss “mother love” during the month of February.
• “I Love You” rituals for kids of all ages
• Great ideas for Valentine’s Day activities that really enhance the love in your home.
• Using love to diffuse tough situations and create the kind of atmosphere everyone wants to come home to.

Through it all, we’ll be reminding you that the feeling of love is the reward that comes after the action of love. Let’s face it, even those soft and helpless newborns can be tough to love at 3 a.m. when they’re screaming and spitting up all over you!

Here’s a sample of the mushy, wonderful material we’ll have ready for you during the month of love:

‘What’s the matter, Henry?’ I asked, my words hollow, my stony heart crusted with weariness. Mechanically, I climbed onto his bed beside him and lay my head just inches from his.

‘I’m sad,’ he hiccupped. ‘I don’t want to go to bed.’

There wasn’t an ounce, sliver, tiny shred of patience left in me.

But sometimes being a mommy means mommy-ing even when you don’t want to, when you feel like you have nothing left. So, I wiped the tears from Henry’s cheeks and said, ‘We have to sleep so our bodies feel good and our minds can be happy.’

Sweet mercy of miracles, Henry looked at me with tired eyes and softly whispered, ‘OK’. He pulled my arm around him like a blanket and quickly fell asleep. I lay there a few more minutes, feeling the soft warmth of his breath, inhale, exhale, across the top of my arm.

And there it was.

The love came unbidden, bubbling up and over, into the cracks of my consciousness. It isn’t about you, the love said. It’s about them. There is a time for quiet, but now, they need you. I kissed Henry’s forehead and moved from his bed, going to spend a few minutes with each of the other children.

– Jenny Proctor

These two words: LOVE MORE are so simple to write, simple to say but often hard to put into action. When everything is going well, the weather is good, the kids are responsive to your instructions, your husband is buying you fun Christmas gifts, your neighbors are bringing delicious goodies – it’s easy to love more. BUT when a child is driving you crazy with incessant whining, teenagers are constantly pushing your buttons and ‘accidentally’ but consistently missing their curfew, when husbands have no clue about what is required to put your house back together after the Christmas extravaganza and is quietly reading a book by the fire, or when your in-laws openly disapprove of the way you run your family, that is when ‘Love More’ gets hard!

– Linda Eyre

 

 

About Allyson Reynolds

A Midwest girl, Allyson met a California boy in Japan, and after getting married and living in all three places together, they have spent the better part of the last decade in the Mountain West with their four children, ages 11-21. After many years of writing and speaking about motherhood for the Power of Moms organization, Allyson now produces The Sisterhood Podcast with long time Power of Moms friend, Tiffany Sowby. Along with creating episodes that focus on empowering and entertaining women, they hold monthly “Service & Sweets” events up and down the Wasatch front where they gather women to serve at a different service organization every month followed by a visit to a local treat shop. (For more information and to get involved, find them on
Instagram.

In a parallel universe, Allyson travels the world as a freelance writer and National Geographic photographer. In reality, she tries to squeeze in as many of her favorite things as possible (the great outdoors, photography, biking, cooking, living like a tourist) while trying to keep up with her busy family. Though woefully neglected, you can occasionally catch up with her on her blog, A Day in the Life and on the local daytime TV show, Studio 5