A "Mother Heart"

I've obviously been thinking more lately about mothers and motherhood than I have in the past. I've thought about whether motherhood is biological, circumstantial, emotional or whatever. Since I started thinking about it, I remembered a address give my Julie B. Beck (former counselor in the YW general presidency, current President of the RS) in 2004. In it she described a woman with a "mother heart." As I reread it, I was really struck by the truth of it all. I thought I would share someof my favorite quotes from it here:

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.

Often people ask me what I plan on doing with my degree. Usually, I answer that I'm going to be a mom. In response I get a vague "Oh, that's nice." I suppose it is. I'm not doing anything directly with my degree unless God sends me a child with a communication disorder, but if nothing else I've certainly improved my mind and gained a desire to learn and to teach over the past four years.

To nurture and feed them physically is as much an honor as to nurture and feed them spiritually. She is not "weary in well-doing" and delights to serve her family, becasue she knows that "out of small things proceedeth that which is great" (D&C 64:33).

For mother's day, I considered writing my mom a poem about my favorite memories of her. I didn't. But I did spend a lot of time reflecting on all my childhood memories and how they all fit toghether. Which ones were the most important to me? I can't really say. There are no big memories that stand out above the rest. I just like the little ones! Doing homework next to her while she paid the bills. Making pasta on our (now dusty) pastamaker. Her special remedies when I wasn't feeling well. The thousands of tiny things she did with me and for me is what makes her such a marvelous mother.

She knows that the influence of righteous, conscientious, persistent, daily mothering is far more lasting, far more powerful, far more influential than any earthly position or institution invented by man... 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.

I hope I never minimize what I do or lose the vision of what I can do. This is the biggest and hardest thing I've ever even thought of doing and I think understanding the potential of my work will be key to finding joy and meaning in the darker moments.