MOTHERHOOD

 

“Motherhood is near to divinity.

It is the highest, holiest service to be assumed by mankind.

It places her who honours its holy calling and service next to the angels.”

 

-          The First Presidency: Heber J. Grant, J. Reuben Clark, David O McKay

 

What are children to a mother

If not gifts from heaven’s door;

As jewels from God’s own bosom

Gifted to her heart forever more.

Entrusted with the greatest charge

Sealed with hope of tender care;

From His hands

To mothers given

As gifts of worth beyond compare.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Mercy's Light by Annie Henrie Nader)

BECAUSE SHE IS A MOTHER

 

 

“There are some lines attributed to Victor Hugo in his 1874 novel “Ninety Three” which read:

“She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children, who ate with eagerness.

‘She hath kept none for herself’, grumbled the Sergeant.

‘Because she is not hungry’, said the soldier.

‘No’, said the Sergeant, ‘because she is a mother’.

 

“When you have come to the Lord in meekness and lowliness of heart and, as one mother said, ‘pounded on the doors of heaven to ask for, to plead for, to demand guidance and wisdom and help for this wondrous task’,  that door is thrown open to provide you the influence and the help of all eternity. Claim the promises of the Saviour of the world. Ask for the healing balm of the Atonement for whatever may be troubling you or your children. Know that in faith things will be made right in spite of you, or more correctly, because of you.

“You can’t possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you – He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlastingly for the return of the prodigal son. Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.

“Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And ‘press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope’. You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even – no, especially – when your days and your nights may be the most challenging. Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master’s garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibility as mothers, ‘Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole’. And it will make your children whole as well.” 

-          Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, “Because She Is A Mother”,  April 1997 General Conference

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: Holding Heaven by Jenedy Paige)

ETERNAL PROTOTYPE

 

“As with many other truths of the gospel, our present knowledge about a Mother in Heaven is limited. Nevertheless, we have been given sufficient knowledge to appreciate the sacredness of this doctrine and to comprehend the divine pattern established for us as children of heavenly parents. Latter-day Saints believe that this pattern is reflected in Paul’s statement that “neither is the man without the woman, neither the woman without the man, in the Lord.

“Men and women cannot be exalted without each other. Just as we have a Father in Heaven, we have a Mother in Heaven. As President Dallin H. Oaks has said, “Our theology begins with heavenly parents. Our highest aspiration is to be like them.

“Indeed, as Elder Rudger Clawson wrote, “We honour woman when we acknowledge Godhood in her eternal Prototype.”

-          Mother in Heaven, Gospel Topics Essays, lds.org

 

ODE TO HEAVENLY MOTHER

You nurtured me so lovingly

And placed me on the godly path;

You bid me follow in Your footsteps,

To bring honour to Your noble heart.

 

I long to bring You my earthly memories

And tell You of them, one by one;

I hope to bring You endless joy

When home at last I come.

 

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Art: In Her Image by Joyfully Artful)

BECAUSE SHE IS A MOTHER

 

 (Art: Safe In Mother's Arms by Greg Collins)

“There are some lines attributed to Victor Hugo [in his 1874 novel “Ninety Three” which explored the counter-revolutionary revolts which occurred during the period of the French Revolution. A scene near the beginning of the book depicted a group of military men who encountered a woman with her baby and her two young children who were all starving] which read:

“She broke the bread into two fragments and gave them to her children, who ate with eagerness.

‘She hath kept none for herself’, grumbled the Sergeant.

‘Because she is not hungry’, said the soldier.

‘No’, said the Sergeant, ‘because she is a mother’.

“When you have come to the Lord in meekness and lowliness of heart and, as one mother said, ‘pounded on the doors of heaven to ask for, to plead for, to demand guidance and wisdom and help for this wondrous task’ that door is thrown open to provide you the influence and the help of all eternity.

“Claim the promises of the Saviour of the world. Ask for the healing balm of the Atonement for whatever may be troubling you or your children. Know that in faith things will be made right in spite of you, or more correctly, because of you.

“You can’t possibly do this alone, but you do have help. The Master of Heaven and Earth is there to bless you – He who resolutely goes after the lost sheep, sweeps thoroughly to find the lost coin, waits everlastingly for the return of the prodigal son.

“Yours is the work of salvation, and therefore you will be magnified, compensated, made more than you are and better than you have ever been as you try to make honest effort, however feeble you may sometimes feel that to be.

“Rely on Him. Rely on Him heavily. Rely on Him forever. And ‘press forward with a steadfastness in Christ, having a perfect brightness of hope’. You are doing God’s work. You are doing it wonderfully well. He is blessing you and He will bless you, even – no, especially – when your days and your nights may be the most challenging.

“Like the woman who anonymously, meekly, perhaps even with hesitation and some embarrassment, fought her way through the crowd just to touch the hem of the Master’s garment, so Christ will say to the women who worry and wonder and sometimes weep over their responsibility as mothers, ‘Daughter, be of good comfort; thy faith hath made thee whole’. And it will make your children whole as well.” 

-        (Elder Jeffrey R. Holland, "Because She Is A Mother", April 1997 General Conference)

PARENTHOOD

 

I am often amazed how much is required of some parents. I see it in my daughter constantly who is a mother of a special needs child. I worry about her, I ache for her, I cry with her. It has made me reflect on the two special attributes that she is acquiring in the process of her motherhood: selflessness and self-sacrifice.

 

Our society has drummed into us, especially into women, that we need to have a life of our own, unimpeded by children who always demand to come first and push us and our needs to the back burner. We often complain that we no longer have a life of our own because of kids. Whereas there needs to be some sort of a balance and respite provided to cope better with demands of parenthood, society’s dogma has convinced a lot of people in the world not to have children at all. 

 

I think of Christ, whose children we are….and his selflessness and self-sacrifice. Imagine if the Saviour spent His life complaining that He also had no life of His own because He was purely here for us. Would He be willing to get up on that cross when the time came? It boggles the mind. Lucky for us, the Saviour navigated His whole life through the pure love of Christ within Him. Pure love basically means He had no motive for self-advancement or self-gain. The love was purely for others and this love enabled Him to carry the cross of  selflessness and self-sacrifice. By virtue of our discipleship, we have access to the pure love of Christ so we too can carry such a cross. This love is bestowed upon all true followers of Christ who actively seek it. Moroni promised as much (Moroni 7:47,8). 

 

I take my hat off to you parents who are bringing up children in this ever increasingly evil world. Just remember, your children will one day be gems in your royal crown, as we will be in Christ’s when He comes to make up His jewels (Malachi 3:17).

 

What are children to a mother

If not gifts from heaven’s door;

As jewels from God’s own bosom

Gifted to her heart forever more.

Entrusted with the greatest charge

Sealed with hope of tender care;

From His hands

To mothers given

As gifts of worth beyond compare.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN

(Art by Greg Olsen)

 

ENCIRCLED IN THE ARMS OF HIS LOVE

This week we have witnessed the unthinkable happen in our midst - a mother had discarded her newborn baby and committed him to the depths of the city drain to suffer the inevitable fate which she had decided upon. Whether the mother was of a sound mind or not is irrelevant to this here insight. Those of us who have been privileged to become mothers are all too familiar with the strong emotional bond and love a mother feels for her helpless newborn baby. Equally strong is the driving force within a mother to nurture her infant so that it might continue to have life. It is not surprising therefore that the Saviour of all mankind would use the metaphor of motherhood to impress upon us His enduring compulsion to save us unto Himself. I think the Saviour foresaw our day and this incident with the discarded infant and He spoke to us who live here and now though this scripture so that we may ever understand His commitment to us, His children:

"Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? Yeah, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee. Behold, I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, they walls are continually before me." (Isaiah 49:15-16)

What was the Saviour saying? That it is more likely for a mother to forsake her newborn child, as unthinkable as that is, than for Him to forsake us; that we will never be discarded; that we will never not be wanted; that we alone remove ourselves from His presence. Other than to obtain a body, Christ did not need the experience of mortality. Through His perfect obedience to the Father He was exalted and became a God in His own right whilst in His First Estate. As the firstborn of the Father He stood to inherit all that the Father hath but Celestial Kingdom can be a lonely place without those that you love and He had loved us. And so His infallible love for us, his siblings, produced another reason for Him to enter mortality and thereby become the author of our salvation.

The Saviour longs for the lowliest of us, to make us His own. He longs to encircle us in the arms of His love, to take us home, to have us with Him forever. To this end was He born. To this end came He into the world, to save the world. Do you know how priceless you are? Do you know how beloved you are? Your destiny does not lie in the sewers of this telestial world but in celestial realms above. Your destiny lies in the inheritance of thrones, principalities and dominions in the Celestial Kingdom of our Father. The Saviour lives and He will return and when He does the obedient will become jewels in His crown and will be "...crowned with honour, and glory, and immortality, and eternal life" (D&C 75:5). For this purpose were we born, for this purpose was He lifted. For this purpose He seeks us from all corners of the earth and beckons us with this promise:

"Be faithful and diligent in keeping the commandments of God, and I will encircle thee in the arms of my love." (D&C 6:20)

BESIDE ME THERE IS NO SAVIOUR

GOD'S WINGS -

An article in National Geographic several years ago provided a penetrating picture of God's wings. After a forest fire in Yellowstone National Park, forest rangers began their trek up a mountain to assess the inferno's damage. One ranger found a bird literally petrified in ashes, perched statuesquely on the ground at the base of a tree. Somewhat sickened by the eerie sight, he knocked over the bird with a stick. When he gently struck it, three tiny chicks scurried from under their dead mother's wings. The loving mother, keenly aware of impending disaster, had carried her offspring to the base of the tree and had gathered them under her wings, instinctively knowing that the toxic smoke would rise. She could have flown to safety but refused to abandon her babies. When the blaze had arrived and the heat had scorched her small body, the mother had remained steadfast. Because she had been willing to die, those under the cover of her wings would live.

"O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, thou that killest the prophets, and stonest them which are sent unto thee, how oft would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, and ye would not!"  Matthew 23:37

As the unrepentant Judah neared Babylonian captivity, prophet Isaiah made a valiant attempt to bring the covenant people to a remembrance of the God of Israel. Chapters 40-47 of Isaiah are written in a completely poetic style and contain the most beautiful scriptures about the promised Messiah in all the standard works. Even when prophesying of captivity, Isaiah does not leave the covenant people without hope revealing Judah's future deliverance from bondage and the destruction of Babylon that had been Judah's oppressor. Isaiah brings the Saviour to the world's attention as its' only hope of deliverance from sin, oppression, despair, fear, hopelessness and death. Over and over Isaiah reiterates that there is only one Saviour and beside him there is no other:

Isaiah 43:10,11 - "...beside me there is no Saviour"
Isaiah 44:6 - "....beside me there is no God"
Isaiah 45:5,6 - "....there is none beside me"
Isaiah 45:14 - "...surely God is in thee and there is none else"
Isaiah 45:18 - "....I am the Lord and there is none else"
Isaiah 45:21,22 - "...there is no God else beside me"
Isaiah 46:9 - "...I am God and there is none like me"

Through modern day revelation we learn more of the Saviour's majesty, might and power and why He has the right to say that there is none other beside Him. Consider the following scriptures that speak this truth:

"O Lord God Almighty, hear us in these our petitions, and answer us from heaven, thy holy habitation, where thou sittest enthroned, with glory, honor, power, majesty, might, dominion, truth, justice, judgment, mercy and an infinity of fullness, from everlasting to everlasting." (D&C 109:77)

"He comprehendeth all things, and all things are before him, and all things are round about him; and he is above all things, and in all things, and is through all things, and is round about all things, and all things are by him, and of him, even God, forever and ever." (D&C 88:41)

Isaiah's exhaustive efforts to bring Israel back to their God provides a very thorough list of the Saviour's incomparable qualities. One cannot help but feel that this prophet knew the Saviour on a personal as well as revelatory level. Here is a list that in all reality teaches us that truly there is none other beside Him equal in wisdom, knowledge, might and power:

1. No one can teach Him or Counsel Him: Isaiah 40:13,14
2. He never fails nor gets weary: Isaiah 40:28-31
3. He created the heavens, the earth and the nations: Isaiah 40:12,15,16,21,22; 45:12,18
4. He can help when no one else can or will: Isaiah 41:17,18
5. He is never discouraged with us. He never quits or gives up: Isaiah 42:3,4
6. He will turn darkness into light and make crooked paths straight: Isaiah 42:16
7. He will stay with us in our trials: Isaiah 43:1-4
8. He will blot out our transgressions: Isaiah 43:25
9. He blesses our families: Isaiah 44:3,4
10. He carries us at all times: Isaiah 46:3,4
11. He will never forsake us nor forget us: Isaiah 49:14-16

Despite His majesty and power by which He can thrash the nations, the Saviour appeals to us mostly through sentiment enticing us back into His arms. The most effective metaphor which he uses to do this is one of motherhood. Could it be that we at present, in our mortal state, cannot relate to the grandeur of His godhood but can very well relate to the parental bond that exists between a parent and a child that is so much a part of mortality? Every woman that has experienced motherhood could understand this statement: "Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb?  Yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee" (Isaiah 49:15). It is unthinkable, is it not, for a woman to forget to feed her newborn baby? Yet, that is more likely to happen than for the Saviour to forget to succor us. And consider the hen who would sacrifice her life for the sake of her baby chickens. Would not any mother do this? More than his qualities of power, the Saviour would have us know that his heart is like a mother's: loving to the point of self-sacrifice, relentlessly caring and aggressively protective. He would have us know that within the shadow of His wings, He gathers us and protects us from the world which seeks to tears us down. Israel of old led themselves into Babylonian captivity by committing two foolish sins: they had forsaken the one true and living God, and they placed their trust in the powers of the world instead. It tugs on the heart strings to hear the Lord's lamentation concerning this: "For my people have committed two evils; they have forsaken me, the fountain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jeremiah 2:13). 

"In ancient times, a king was welcomed to his throne in a great processional, often after victory in battle. A new highway would be built for the king and his parade of soldiers; workers would level the road and straighten it to make a path for the royal progress to the throne. Isaiah counsels us to 'prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway for our God' (Isaiah 40:3). This appeal is an invitation to welcome the Lord into our hearts, to enthrone Him there instead of the proud, deceptive king of Babylon who desires only to keep us enslaved" (Breck England, "Beside Me There Is No Savior", Meridian Magazine). 

We do not belong in Babylon. We belong in the shelter and shadow of His wings. We of the House of Israel wish to proclaim to the world that He is the King of Kings and that there is no other beside Him. We want to be gathered from all nations into his loving and protective care so that when He comes, this, His plea, will not be true of us:

"O, ye nations of the earth, how oft would I have gathered you together as a hen gathered her chickens under her wings, but ye would not!" D&C 43:24