In the wisdom of our heavenly Father he provided for
his children to come to earth in the most ideal circumstances possible
without taking away our eternal free agency. The Lord has given each
of His children a mother to care for that tiny helpless little baby
and nurture and love and give that spirit a body and an earthly
home.
Each woman brings to earth the God-like attributes she
has developed in the world of preexistence before coming to this
earth. Here on the earth she can develop the divine attribute of
unselfish love through motherhood.
Our Heavenly Father has given each of us the task of
learning to love as he has commanded. He has given us the supreme
example of love in His son Jesus Christ. He has added to that example
by giving us our mothers to help us on that all-important journey even
before our birth. Every mother has a mother to love them and serve and
nurture them preparing them to be a good mother.
Have you ever thought about the process that develops a
mother's love? After a time of waiting, hoping and discomfort, a
mother goes down into the valley of the shadow of death offering her
all to bring her little helpless baby into the world. Her heart and
soul fills with love and wonder as she holds her little one in her
arms and cuddles it. She looks with wonder and love at the tiny, soft,
sweet smelling bundle and realizes that her baby is so helpless and
dependant on her tender care and protection.
Through the years I watched the mother of our children
tenderly bathe our tiny babies holding them carefully to shield them
from the fear of falling. She would dry them and lovingly powder and
oil them with the caress of the other hand giving that tiny child a
sense of love and security. She would nurse them whenever they were
hungry even though it might be at 2 or 3 in the morning. She would
change them at the slightest whimper of discomfort. She would never
make them wait for her convenience or meet a schedule and cry and cry
for attention and care. The children felt secure and loved with a
sense of belonging to the family. The children grew in security love
and in turn their capacity to love increased.
I am very thankful that my wife included me as the
father to share in this wonderful experience of raising our
children.
I remember my dear Mother and marvel at how she could
meet every situation. She could host the General Authorities and the
apostles of the Lord or help Doña Lola in her need whatever it might
be. Juanita would always help.
For twenty one years she hosted the Prophets and
Apostles of the Lord. She hosted many General Authorities and the
general members of the different auxiliary organizations of the
church.
I remember when Elder John A. Widstoe came mother was
nervous about serving him common food because he had written books on
the word of wisdom and had talked many times on healthy foods. She
didn't want to serve him mush every morning so she served him
delicious hot cakes one morning.
We were all sitting around the big breakfast table
enjoying the hot cakes and scrambled eggs. Elder Widstoe commented
pleasantly, "I can just taste the vitamins in this syrup. Mother
hastily got up and went into the kitchen where she could smile and
giggle to herself. She had made that syrup by browning the sugar and
boiling it down into syrup. Then she added a little Maplene flavoring
for taste.
Mother would even cook my fish that I would bring home
from the river. She didn't like fish and she didn't even like the
smell of the fish in her kitchen. She went ahead and cooked the fish
that her little boy had so proudly brought home. I did't realize at
the time the sacrifice it was for her to cook the awful smelling
fish.
She raised eight children, six boys and two girls, all
perfectly healthy and strong. When the 9th child was born he was a
beautiful little boy. Only after one month he died of Pneumonia. I
remember my mother holding him and crying pitifully trying to blame
herself for his death. My Father lovingly told her again and again
that she was not to blame and that the Lord had taken him home.
When I was quite a small boy my mother told me that we
needed a cat because she had seen a mouse in the kitchen. I got a
strong flour sack and went down to Bluth's where I had been going to
play with Oscar and Chato. They had many wild cats around their place
and the cats would go under their back porch through a hole in the
lattice work around the porch.
After watching for quite a while we saw a big yellow
and black cat go under the porch. I ran and put the sack over the hole
and told the boys to poke the cat with a pole and scare it out. The
cat hit the end of the sack and nearly tore it out of my hands but I
managed to close the sack and hold on. I went proudly home with my big
beautiful cat.
My mother explained that if we put butter on the cats
paws that it would stop to lick of the butter and tame down. I firmly
held the cat by the neck while mother opened the sack and liberally
smeared the cat's paws with butter and told me to turn it loose. That
cat let out a loud yowl and streaked across the kitchen and went up
the corner to the ceiling clawing all the way down and across the room
again and up the opposite comer to the ceiling leaving butter tracks
everywhere. Mother was calling urgently "open the door open the
door"!!! I ran quickly and opened the door and the cat disappeared
into the night. When I turned back to mother she was laughing so hard
tears were coming to her eyes and she pointed to the butter smears on
the kitchen corners. My mother could laugh at herself and she had a
wonderful sense of humor.
Our Father in Heaven provided the family as the basic
eternal unit in which His children could learn to love. Both the
parents and the children learn to love in this setting of the family.
The mother is the heart of home and the family and is the greatest of
all because she is the servant of all making her life a labor of
love.
Why do we all love and honor our mothers? Each of our
mothers has filled the measure of her creation and has given us life,
unselfish love and service all of our days, thus developing in her the
divine attributes that God has given her.
My wife as a mother had great faith in the Lord and
relied on the anointing of the sick with great faith. When our Mary
was a little toddler and had just learned to walk. A dear friend of
ours came by to see us. He had brought a pickup loaded with heavy John
Deere equipment. After breakfast he went out and started to back out
of the driveway. Naoma looked ou1 the window and saw the heavy truck
knock little Mary down and run over her little body with the back
tire. She screamed and ran down and took our little daughter in her
arms and examined the ugly tire marks. She then insisted that we
anoint little Mary and bless her. After the administration little Mary
stopped crying but I insisted that we take her up to the Hospital to
be x-rayed and examined. Doctor Hatch examined her carefully and
studied the x-rays. He said that there was no damage to her body only
the black and blue tire marks to show where the heavy truck had run
over her.
Mothers and fathers enjoy your lives and your children
while you have them at home. Grow in your capacity to love along with
your children and lavish your love on your family. Reap the rewards of
love and joy for eternity.
Young fathers share in the caring for your children in
unity with you wife and it will become a labor of love and give you
joy and purpose in your life
I thank our Heavenly Father for the mother of my
children and the love and unity we share. Her children, grandchildren
and great grandchildren honor her and love her and her love has
extended to each one of them.
I remember my own mother with love, honor and
gratitude. She was a perfect mother to me and will always be a symbol
of divine motherhood.
May this mother's day remind us of the divine mission
of motherhood and help us show our love through our actions and our
lives.
HAPPY MOTHERS DAY TO ALL OF YOU WONDERFUL MOTHERS. MAY
THE LORD BLESS YOU AND ASSIST YOU WITH HIS DIVINE LOVE.
We express our love to the mothers of our Grandchildren
and Great Grandchildren. We love you all.