Spring · May
from a small garden south of Salt Lake
Family discipleship, honest motherhood, and the slow work of making a home, written at the kitchen table by Melissa Whitaker.
Lately on the kitchen table
read more →A note from Melissa
LDS Family Life is a publication about LDS family life, motherhood, marriage, homemaking, and practical gospel living for families who want faith at home to feel lived instead of staged. I write first-person essays on family discipleship, spiritual formation in ordinary routines, and the pressures families are trying to carry with steadiness and grace.
The sink full of mixing bowls. The garden row that finally came up. The child calling for one more glass of water. The prayer I whisper while scraping plates after dinner. Those are the things that hold a family, and they feel worth writing down before they slip past.
with love, Melissa
Essays
May 15
The vacuum was running at ten o'clock on Saturday night. I was preparing for rest in a way that felt like the opposite of rest.
May 15
The kettle whistled and I could not find the toddler's shoe and the permission slip was due yesterday. I had moved through it without being in it.
May 15
The doorbell rang while I was making cinnamon toast. Shoes piled by the door, toys on the floor. I slid a piece of toast across to her and she started talking.
May 15
My youngest held the scripture book in her sticky hands, unable to read it but holding it close. She was learning that the scriptures are safe to touch.
May 14
My youngest fell asleep during our family prayer. I kept praying but I was smiling. The unfinished moments might be the most sacred ones.
May 14
My youngest interrupted our prayer to ask if dinosaurs had spirits. I paused instead of redirecting. Connection matters more than the correct formula.
May 14
I wiped the counter with a damp washcloth. It was the fifth time that day. The crumbs are not obstacles to a spiritual life.
May 14
My youngest held my scriptures upside down, tracing sticky fingers along the pages. She was not reading. She was being near something she did not understand.
May 13
I heard a sigh from my middle schooler when I announced scripture study. I closed the book and asked about his day. Connection matters more.
May 13
There was a sticky hand pulling at my dress while I answered the door. I said, "Come in. We are living in here." Small-scale hospitality is about being real.
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