"I'll Need to do the Laundry First"

Here's a favorite poem. I have it laminated and keep it displayed in my laundry room. I made sure I packed it in a safe place so I could put it up right away in the new place:

An Unfinished Woman
Here am I Lord,
The dishes barely done and night long since fallen,
The children would not go to bed
And would not go--
And now they are gone.
Gone to places of their own with children of their own
Who will not go to bed and will not go--
And I have taught them what I could and
They have learned the things they would
And now they've gone their way alone to learn the rest
Most on their own.

And I remain, not half spent
And I remain, not yet content,
So much to do, so much to learn,
My past mistakes make stepping-stones,
Not millstones great around my neck but
Stones to guide my searching feet--
And I must search; I'm incomplete.

I watch my years go tumbling by
And I must use them better, I
Have yet so much to learn and do
Before I can return to You.
The hour is late. The night comes on,
My celestial self I would become.
Ah! What wisdom thou gavest to mortal life--I
As sister, mother, daughter, wife--
In earthly roles have seen Thy face.
In my womanly life Thy heavenly place
Is taught through humble tasks and pain.
So, if royal robes I would obtain,
To wear as all Thy glories burst--
I'll need to do the laundry first."

By Jaroldeen Asplund Edwards (mother of 12)