“The most important of the Lord’s work you and I will ever do will be within the walls of our own homes”
(Harold B. Lee, Stand Ye in Holy Places)
You are not alone
“When you have come to the Lord in meekness and lowliness of heart and, as one mother said, “pounded on the doors of heaven to ask for, to plead for, to demand guidance and wisdom and help for this wondrous task,” that door is thrown open to provide you the influence and the help of all eternity. Claim the promises of the Savior of the world. Ask for the healing balm of the Atonement for whatever may be troubling you or your children. Know that in faith things will be made right in spite of you, or more correctly, because of you.
You can't possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you—He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlastingly for the return of the prodigal son. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.”
(‘Because She Is a Mother’, Jeffrey R. Holland)
Single mothers:
"To mothers raising children alone, remember that you and the Lord constitute a majority. As your arms encircle your little ones, his arms are there, too. Feel secure, for his arms are lengthened out toward us all the day long." -Sister Mary E. Foulger
The highest and noblest work
"During my professional career as a doctor of medicine, I was occasionally asked why I chose to do that difficult work. I responded with my opinion that the highest and noblest work in this life is that of a mother. Since that option was not available to me, I thought that caring for the sick might come close. I tried to care for my patients as compassionately and competently as mother cared for me."
-Elder Russell M. Nelson
“Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
There are some lines attributed to Victor Hugo which read:
“She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children, who ate with eagerness.
“She hath kept none for herself,” grumbled the sergeant.
“Because she is not hungry,” said a soldier.
“No,” said the sergeant, because she is a mother.”
(“Because She Is a Mother” - Jeffrey R. Holland)
Every woman a mother
Every woman is a mother. Every woman is a nurturer and helps in the great task of raising the future generation. Every woman has the ability to uplift and inspire and a duty to love and teach. Some women have had to find a way to survive after losing a child. Some women have to suffer through the heartache of infertility. Some women haven't had the chance to marry and have a family of her own. They are all mothers.
You too, my mother, read my rhymes
For love of unforgotten times,And you may chance to hear once more
The little feet along the floor.
-Robert Louis Stenenson
The 2000 Stripling warriors
Alma 56:47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of theirfathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.
“Yea, they were men of truth and soberness, for they had been taught to keep the commandments of God and to walk uprightly before him” (Alma 53:21). These faithful young men paid tribute to their mothers. They said, “Our mothers knew it.” (Alma 56:48).
A young child, walking hand and hand with Father in Heaven, said, "they tell me you are sending me to earth today... How am I going to live there being so small and helpless?”
Heavenly Father knelt down and embraced His child tenderly. He then said, reassuringly, “your angel will be waiting for you and will take care of you”.
The anxious child continued, “but here in heaven I don't have to do anything but sing and smile to be happy - how will I be happy on earth?”
Heavenly Father calmly responded, “Your angel will sing for you and will also smile for you. You will feel your angel’s love and be very happy.”
The child further inquired, “but how am I going to be able to understand when people talk to me if I don't know the language?”
“Your angel will tell you the most beautiful and sweet words you will ever hear, and with much patience and care, your angel will teach you how to speak”, Heavenly Father responded, gently.
“And what am I going to do when I want to talk to you?”
“Your angel will place your hands together and will teach you how to pray.”
"Who will protect me?”
“Your angel will defend you, even if it means risking its life.”
"I will always be sad because I won't see you anymore” , the child said looking down.
Heavenly Father turned the child's chin up tenderly, and said, “Your angel will always talk to you about Me and will teach you the way to come back to Me, even though I will always be next to you.”
At that moment there was much peace in Heaven, but flustered voices from Earth could be heard and the child, realising it was time to leave, hurriedly expressed one final request, “Heavenly Father, if I am to leave now, please will you tell me my angel’s name?”
God silenced all fear with his reply, “You will simply call her, “Mommy.”
– Original Author Unknown
“Most of you are mothers, and very many of you are grandmothers and even great-grandmothers. You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:
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.
(Women of the church, Gordon B Hinckley)
Motherhood is a sacrifice that will not be overlooked.
Just as any form of faithful service, the Lord promises us that the more we give, the more we will receive.
..."he that loseth his life for my sake shall find it." -Matthew 10:39
What greater sake can we "lose our lives" for than striving to raising up children unto the Lord?
There is simply no greater purpose on earth or in eternity than the sacred responsibility of parenthood.
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