This past general conference Elder Zwick told the story of a trip he and his wife were taking in a semitruck with their infant son. He mentions that there were no seat-belt restrictions or infant car seats at that time, but that his wife carried their son in her arms. During one part of the trip, going down the steep slope of Donner Pass, the cab of the semi suddenly filled with smoke. Elder Zwick attempted to stop by gearing down until the truck was going slow enough for the brakes to be effective. However, before reaching a full stop, he says: “my wife opened the door of the cab and jumped out with our baby in her arms. I watched helplessly as they tumbled in the dirt.” Elder Zwick rushed to them as soon as he had stopped the truck. He continues: “As my heartbeat normalized and I caught my breath, I blurted out, “What in the world were you thinking? Do you know how dangerous that was? You could have been killed!”
“She looked back at me, with tears running down her smoke-smudged cheeks, and said something that pierced my heart and still rings in my ears: “I was just trying to save our son.”
“I realized in that moment she thought the engine was on fire, fearing the truck would explode and we would die...I looked at my precious wife, softly rubbing the head of our infant son, and wondered what kind of woman would do something so courageous.”1
While Elder Zwick surely meant to praise his wife for her bravery, my scope today is a little broader. Sister Zwick was indeed the kind of woman that would do something so courageous. But in answer to Elder Zwick’s wondering question, the type of woman that would do something so courageous is the type of woman who gives of her body, her life, to care for others: a mother.
Howard W. Hunter conveyed this thought from the first presidency: “Motherhood is near to divinity. It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.”2 My object in this talk is to help us better understand the role of motherhood, and its relation to the role of our Heavenly Father.
First, let us revisit the plan of salvation. God organized our spirits in the preexistence. He helped us grow and prepared us for the time when we would leave His presence and pass through our own mortal experiences. Because He created us, taught us, and nurtured us, He loves us. Furthermore, because of this love, His work and His glory is to bring to pass the immortality and eternal life of man (Moses 1:39). In short, He wants us to reach our greatest potential.
How does this compare with the role of our mothers? It is identical. Mothers form a deep bond with their children since before their birth. They give of their own body and strength in order to create a new body for their child. From birth until adulthood, mothers help their children learn, and grow, preparing them for the time when they must leave mother’s home and apply what she has taught them.
Throughout this entire process, mothers have their eyes set on the goal of real happiness for their children. They comprehend the eternal perspective, and know that this life is: “a probationary state; a time to prepare to meet God” (Alma 12:24). WIth Amulek, mothers exhort their children to “not procrastinate the day of [their] repentance until the end.” All of their teachings and admonitions, rules and rewards, worries and preparations, are based on what they perceive to be the best for their child’s life, not just in the moment, but for the entirety of their life. A mother’s joy comes in knowing that her children are striving to better themselves, to reach their fullest potential.
By the same token, as children we reserve a special spot in our heart for our mothers. For any of you who have engaged in any kind of missionary work, you will have come across people who, without even having an established religion, hold a surety of God’s existence. This is because there is some part within our soul that recognizes the reality of God. In much the same way, we understand the role of our mothers. We comprehend, in a way that transcends mere intellect, that our mothers are the reason and means of our existence. As such we listen to them, and their teachings stay with us throughout our lives, carefully guarded in a special vault in our hearts. Understanding this, then, we recognize the wisdom in Elder Perry’s reminder: “a parent’s teaching must never be devalued...This is especially true when we consider the teaching of values, moral and ethical standards, and faith.” 3 It is within the family that we receive the best preparation for eternal life.
I would share with you one of these teachings that I have received from my mother. I share it because my mother has always been quick to incorporate the gospel into our lives. I remember when I had lost a toy in my room (I wasn’t the cleanest of 9-yr olds). I asked my mom for help. Now, there was a variety of ways in which she might have responded. She might have come to help me look for it. She might have brushed me aside and told me it wasn’t important. However, what she did has stayed with me for the last 12 years. She suggested that I pray to ask for God’s help in finding my toy. Well, I did, and I found it. While I recognize God’s hand in helping a child find his toy, what sticks more in my mind is my mother’s faith and her focus on making God an integral part of our family.
I quote President Monson: “One cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one.” 4
I laud all women who take upon themselves the trials of motherhood, my own mother especially so (for obvious reasons). However, I would direct our attention away from simply being grateful for our mothers. A mother is a prime example of a disciple of Jesus Christ. The traits of selflessness and self-sacrifice, of patience and love, of long-suffering and understanding, are Christ-like attributes that we have all been commanded to develop. We would be grossly lacking in our duty to Heavenly Father if the only thing we did on Mother’s day was give more thought than usual to our mothers. Rather, we should emulate them. What better gift can there be, to both our Father in Heaven and to our mothers on earth, than to apply what they’ve taught us, and become more like them? I submit that there is no greater gift that we can give on this day.
To that end, I challenge each of you to reflect on at least one way that your mother, or a mothering figure, has impacted your life, and then set a goal to impact someone else’s life in that same way. Was your mother caring? Then care for others. Did she notice small things and compliment you on them? Then do the same. Was she a beacon of the light of Christ, illuminating the world around her? Focus on how to increase your own light. Did she help you work through your problems, or care for you when sick? Look for opportunities to respond with that motherly, or Christ-like, love.
My favorite example of this comes from the Book of Alma, from the account of the 2000 stripling Lamanite warriors who had been taught so well by their mothers. However, it is not their bravery in battle that inspires me, in spite of of the fact that “they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.” No, what truly impresses me is that they emulated their mothers through their attitudes and actions. We read: “Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their own lives” (Alma 56:47). Where did this attitude come from? Why this willingness to forego personal comfort and safety, and potentially die for their families? It is because they emulated their mothers. They learned all their mothers taught them, in word and example, and were diligent in applying those lessons.
Sheri Dew, then in the Relief Society general presidency, taught the following: “Motherhood is not what was left over after our Father blessed His sons with priesthood ordination. It was the most ennobling endowment He could give His daughters, a sacred trust that gave women an unparalleled role in helping His children keep their second estate.” 5 To better illustrate the impact that mothers have on their childrens’ lives, I relate the following story:
“A famed officer from the Civil War period, Colonel Higginson, when asked to name the incident of the Civil War that he considered the most remarkable for bravery, said that there was in his regiment a man whom everybody liked, a man who was brave and noble, who was pure in his daily life, absolutely free from dissipations in which most of the other men indulged.
“One night at a champagne supper, when many were becoming intoxicated, someone in jest called for a toast from this young man. Colonel Higginson said that he arose, pale but with perfect self-control, and declared: “Gentlemen, I will give you a toast which you may drink as you will, but which I will drink in water. The toast that I have to give is, ‘Our mothers.’”
“Instantly a strange spell seemed to come over all the tipsy men. They drank the toast in silence. There was no more laughter, no more song, and one by one they left the room. The lamp of memory had begun to burn, and the name of Mother touched every man’s heart." 6
Well spoken indeed is the proverb “A foolish man despiseth his mother” (Proverbs 15:20). Just as foolish as we would be to despise God. I close with this thought from President Monson: “Who can comprehend in its entirety the lofty role of a mother? With perfect trust in God, she walks, her hand in His, into the valley of the shadow of death, that you and I might come forth into light.” 7 Let us remember our mothers. Let us be in awe of them, even. However, let us also remember that, as they have risen to be better disciples of Jesus Christ, so too can we rise to those heights. May we honor our mothers by emulating them, by caring and nurturing others, and keeping alive the bright flame of faith in our own hearts.
