I Love My Mother

Having my mother be an active part of my life was a great blessing to me especially through my teenage years. When I began dating I soon learned to give boys certain advice when they were to come to my house and meet my parents for the first time. It would be something like, “Don’t worry too much about meeting my dad. Having raised a family of all girls my dad will just want to have a masculine conversation with you so that he can stay sane. He will appreciate you if for nothing else that you are a male that he gets to talk to for 15 or 20 min. My mother, on the other hand, will mistrust and dislike you from the moment she sees your car pull into the drive way. In order to be welcome in our house you will have to work hard to earn her respect by having me home not just on time but earlier than my curfew, being chivalrous and most importantly never giving me reason to say anything bad about you because she will come after you. Some boys didn’t believe me and had to learn from experience. Looking back my favorite example of this was once a young man and I had taken a walk down to the river that runs through the back of our property late at night. We lost track of time and came back very late. The young man thought it would be best just to leave quickly and quietly rather than disturb my parents and have to apologies for bringing me back so late after curfew. We went to where he had parked his truck only to find that it was missing. He began to panic, freaking out that his baby was gone. My mom then came out the front door with an amazingly smug look on her face. She said, “Your truck knew it was past curfew and tried to head home without you. Start walking and I’m sure you’ll find it!” She had put the truck in neutral and she and my father had pushed it out the driveway and down the road a ways. The boy sprinted down the driveway and never talked to me again. I was furious at the time and thought my mother was out to ruin my life. But really, she was my champion. She helped me to avoid unworthy young men and unnecessary heart break. The other thing I love about my mom is the sacrifices that she made to insure I had a better life for my spiritual and physical needs. In A Proclamation to the World it says: "By divine design, fathers are to preside over their families in love and righteousness and are responsible to provide the necessities of life and protection for their families. Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. In these sacred responsibilities, fathers and mothers are obligated to help one another as equal partners. Disability, death, or other circumstances may necessitate individual adaptation." As far back as I can remember my mother worked as a nurse at the local Hospital and as equal partners my father and mother were able to provide finically for our family. My mother balanced her time between work and family with prayer. Never once did I feel neglected and because every decision she made was by resorting to prayer. The spirit abounded in our home. This taught me that even though every situation is different that if the Lord is put first everything will work out. This is a lesson that has saved my life many times over and I am so grateful for my mother teaching me this through her sacrifices. In 1 Nephi 19: 9 it says,” And the world, because of their iniquity, shall judge him to be a thing of naught; wherefore they scourge him, and he suffereth it; and they smite him, and he suffereth it. Yea, they aspit upon him, and he suffereth it, because of his loving bkindness and his clong-suffering towards the children of men.” This scripture reminds me so much of my mother. She always told me that if I was in a bad situation and didn’t know how to get out of it that it was ok to blame her and use her as an exit strategy. If anyone had a problem with it, they could take it up with her and she would defend me. I ended up using that strategy a lot throughout high school, making her very unpopular among some of my peers and even sometimes with their parents. However she gladly took the blame. Personally, I cannot think of a better example of Christ like behavior to allow others to think less of her in order to help protect me and keep me out of dangerous situations. I know my mother spent countless hours praying and fasting me and my sisters. There is no one other woman that I respect and admire more. The things she had to put up with while raising a rude, rebellious teenaged version of me were awful. But because of her patience, self sacrifice and example, I became who I am now. I am eternally grateful to her and know that in pre mortal life she was chosen to be my mother and I her daughter. I love my mother and hope she has a most wonderful Mother's Day!