General Conference Sunday: A 'Mother Heart'

This morning it is mother's day. We work really hard to make this a special day for mom. We spoil her with breakfast in bed (sweet potato muffins, gourmet toast, sausage-onion-mushroom fritatta and orange juice complete with a vase of flowers). As we brought her breakfast to her on a tray, we sang "Mother I love you, Mother I do" Then we leave her alone to enjoy it. Dad will take care of dinner with help from ever one. At church they'll likely have all the women stand and receive a flower or something.

For the first time in my life on a Mother's day, I feel a little pang, a touch of excitement, that someday this celebration will be about me! What an amazing chance, we have, to celebrate the women who stayed up long hours feeding, changing and comforting us, and likely stay up many longer hours worrying about us. I couldn't help but remember a talk given my Julie B Beck in General Conference my senior year of High School. She talked about having a Mother Heart and developing a Mother Heart. She said

What is a mother heart and how is one acquired? We learn about some of those qualities in the scriptures. To paraphrase Proverbs: “Who can find a … woman [with a mother heart]? for her price is far above rubies. … She … worketh willingly with her hands. … With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. … She stretcheth out her hand to the poor. … Strength and honour are her clothing. … She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness” (Prov. 31:10, 13, 16, 20, 25–27). A woman with a mother heart has a testimony of the restored gospel, and she teaches the principles of the gospel without equivocation. She is keeping sacred covenants made in holy temples. Her talents and skills are shared unselfishly. She gains as much education as her circumstances will allow, improving her mind and spirit with the desire to teach what she learns to the generations who follow her.

I'd forgotten how amazing the talk was until I read it again. A mother heart is something that one cultivates. I believe it to be a conglomeration of gifts of the spirit (I just wanted to use that word:))  Sister Beck closes with the following

Covenant-keeping women with mother hearts know that whether motherhood comes early or late; whether they are blessed with a “quiver full” of children here in mortality or not; whether they are single, married, or left to carry the responsibility of parenthood alone—in holy temples they are “endowed with power from on high” (D&C 38:32), and with that endowment they received the promised blessings and are “persuaded of them, and embraced them” (Heb. 11:13).

Every girl and woman who makes and keeps sacred covenants can have a mother heart. There is no limit to what a woman with a mother heart can accomplish. Righteous women have changed the course of history and will continue to do so, and their influence will spread and grow exponentially throughout the eternities. How grateful I am to the Lord for trusting women with the divine mission of motherhood. Like Mother Eve I am “glad” (see Moses 5:11) to know these things.

Here's a link to the whole article:  A 'Mother Heart'

How thankful I am for my mother, and for my grandmothers, who raised my parents to raise me. Also for all those others who had mother hearts.