Happy Mothers Day to all the mothers! This is one of my favorite holidays to celebrate motherhood and womanhood. Mothers aren't necessarily just those who have given birth, but all women who have nurtured, loved, taught and befriended. All women should be celebrated and honored on Mothers Day.
President Joseph F. Smith said, “The love of a true mother comes nearer [to] being like the love of God than any other kind of love.”
I had the privilege of speaking in church on Mothers Day. As part of my talk I shared a little about my mom.
I regret that I did not appreciate my mom enough growing up. We sometimes did not get along because I did not like being told what to do, and I always had to be right. When I look back now, everything she did was just in an effort to help me. She should take the credit for many of the successes I’ve had in life because she was behind all of them.
My mom loves her children unconditionally! When Mom and I would have an argument, she was always the first to apologize, even if she was not the one who had been wrong. Even at times when I wasn’t so nice to her, she always returned to me with love. She was always happy to hear from me when I’d call, and that made me feel so good. She felt my pain. I specifically remember one time I called her very upset and crying, and she cried with me! Mom is very unselfish, especially in her family.
Her father had Lou Gehrig’s disease for several years and she took care of him. His condition worsened and he ended up passing away the day before my wedding. My mom had done most of the preparations for the wedding, including choosing the flowers from a catalog. My wedding was on a Saturday, and Grandpa passed away on Friday morning around 10:00 am. My mom was at her father’s house through that, and then returned to our house where I was. The flowers had just arrived. We opened them up and they were gold, magenta, purple – an ugly col
or combination and not at all like what she had picked out. This was about 2 hours after her father had passed when she came home and saw the flowers. I remember seeing her standing in the kitchen with the flowers in her hand, and looking so upset and distraught. I went up to her and said, “Mom, it’s okay. It doesn’t matter that much.” There is no one else who would love me enough to put my needs above her own so consistently and in such extreme circumstances.
I have never had a greater, more loyal friend than Mother.
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I believe that motherhood is a partnership with God and a sacred responsibility. I a
m humbled to think that the Lord has entrusted me with this. Motherhood takes on new meaning when I look at my child and think, “You are a child of God!” I have a testimony that motherhood is the most important work a woman can do in life, and that it is God’s work. As such, He will help us if we are prayerful about our parenting.
This post wouldn't be complete without including Aaron's mother, Kay. She really is an exceptional mother, and a great example to me. I am very blessed to know her.
Click here for more photos and bios of our mothers.
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In preparing for my talk I found many wonderful quotes on motherhood, mostly from church leaders. I didn’t use all of them, but I wanted to share some here. I hope they will be as uplifting to you as they were to me.
"The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world."
-- William Ross Wallace
"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her."
-- George Washington
“The very fact that you have been given such a responsibility is everlasting evidence of the trust your Father in Heaven has in you.” -- Elder Jeffrey R. Holland
“There is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” -- President James E. Faust
“The biggest mistake I made [as a parent] is the one that most of us make. … I did not live in the moment enough. This is particularly clear now that the moment is gone, captured only in photographs. There is one picture of [my three children] sitting in the grass on a quilt in the shadow of the swing set on a summer day, ages six, four, and one. And I wish I could remember what we ate, and what we talked about, and how they sounded, and how they looked when they slept that night. I wish I had not been in such a hurry to get on to the next thing: dinner, bath, book, bed. I wish I had treasured the doing a little more and the getting it done a little less.” -- Anna Quindlen
“[The] ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love, and eagerness … to express it in soul development, make motherhood the noblest office or calling in the world. She who can paint a masterpiece or write a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, … deserves the highest honor that man can give, and the choicest blessings of God." --President David O. McKay
“Motherhood is the greatest potential influence either for good or ill in human life. The mother’s image is the first that stamps itself on the … young child’s mind. It is her caress that first awakens a sense of security; her kiss, the first realization of affection; her sympathy and tenderness, the first assurance that there is love in the world.” --President David O. McKay
“When the real history of mankind is fully disclosed, will it feature the echoes of gunfire or the shaping sound of lullabies? The great armistices made by military men or the peacemaking of women in homes and in neighborhoods? Will what happened in cradles and kitchens prove to be more controlling than what happened in congresses?” – Elder Neal A. Maxwell
“Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.” --The First Presidency
“It is the mothers of young children I would like to address first. These are golden years for you. These are years when you will probably do the most important work of your lives. Don’t wish away your years of caring for small children. Life is what happens to you while you are making other plans. This is a time of great opportunity for you to build the kingdom. When you teach children to love their Heavenly Father, you have done one of the greatest things you will ever do. If you can be a full-time homemaker, be grateful. If not, you must do what is best for you. I for one have never felt a need to apologize for my role as a full-time homemaker…But remember, my dear young friends, that you are now doing the work that God intended you to do. Be grateful for the opportunity.” --Sister Marjorie Hinckley
“Don’t be lured away from the plan of our God to the ways of the world, where motherhood is belittled, femininity is decried, and the divinely established role of wife and mother is mocked. Let the world go its way. You follow the plan of the Lord for the greatest measure of true, eternal achievement and the fullest happiness.” – Elder Richard G. Scott
“To My Child” – Anne Campbell
You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
“The greatest job that any mother will ever do will be in nurturing, teaching, lifting, encouraging, and rearing her children in righteousness and truth. None other can adequately take her place. Let every mother realize that she has no greater blessing than the children which have come to her as a gift from the Almighty; that she has no greater mission than to rear them in light and truth, in understanding and love; that she will have no greater happiness than to see them grow into young men and women who respect principles of virtue, who walk free from the stain of immorality and from the shame of delinquency.” -- President Gordon B. Hinckley
“It is mother’s influence during the crucial formative years that forms a child’s basic character…Home is the place where a child learns faith, feels love, and thereby learns from mother’s loving example to choose righteousness…How vital are mother’s influence and teaching in the home—and how apparent when neglected!... No accomplishment transcends the building of the character of a son or a daughter of God.” – President Ezra Taft Benson
“Rock Me to Sleep” -- Elizabeth Akers Allen
Backward, flow backward, O tide of the years!
I am so weary of toil and of tears, . . .
Tired of the hollow, the base, the untrue,
Mother, O mother, my heart calls for you! . . .
Over my heart, in the days that are flown,
No love like mother-love ever has shone; . . .
None like a mother can charm away pain
From the sick soul and the world-weary brain.
Slumber’s soft calms o’er my heavy lids creep;
Rock me to sleep, mother, rock me to sleep!
