One Designing Woman

Saturday, June 7, 2014

To Be Worthy Of His Love

This past couple of weeks I have had some new insights about the Pure Love of Christ or Unconditional Love. When I feel those things floating around in my head and heart I must put fingers to keyboard...to sort, to discover, to understand. So here are some thoughts to peruse and ponder on a lazy Sunday afternoon.

Since I have been a wee child I have known the song, "Jesus loves me" this I know for the Bible tells me so... How can it be that I am still assimilating this truth at this stage in my life? Who is this Man of Galilee that knows me enough to love Me? Not me, collectively as in all of us...but ME?

I was well into my adulthood when I began to think about this pure love of Christ or the unconditional love that He has for me. I never felt I was able to be unconditionally loved or loving without fear of losing that love, until we had children. That gave me a glimpse of what it felt like to love and be loved in that way. Until those three, I never felt anyone was mine in a way that no matter what they did, I would still love them (or they me) completely, purely or unconditionally. It was as though my feelings, my wants and needs were not part of the equation, when I learned about unconditional love as I felt for our babies. There was no pride or selfishness at all.

I loved them completely because of who they were. And I knew they loved me in the same way. I was their Mommy, that was enough for them. In all their imperfections and mine the love never wavered. The astonishing thing was it came so naturally. It was not a struggle, I didn't have to keep trying for it. It just was and I never doubted it or questioned it, no matter what they did. I know their Dad feels the same. This is a kind of love that transcends the earth. It is divine. It is also quite interesting to recognize that grandchildren also inherit this type of love as well. It is their birthright.

I remember the first time I felt unconditional love. I remember the hour, the moment and the rapture of it as though it were a moment ago. I was lying in a hospital bed around 10:00 pm in Las Vegas, Nevada. I had just given birth to Jennifer at 3:38 that afternoon. Jim had gone home reluctantly, after visiting hours and our tiny girl was in the nursery. The day had been filled with excitement, hard work and euphoria that would not let me sleep as I pondered what had just happened.

Suddenly I felt a deep sadness come over me. The thoughts were along the lines of...this is the most important day of our lives together...why are we all in separate places? It was not normal, or natural to the point of being physically painful. It was not long after that that the nurse brought our little burrito-wrapped baby into to me for the first time.

She looked so beautiful with her dark hair long enough to be combed and curled over a nurse's finger before her grand entrance. Her cheeks were so rosy and her eyes the deepest blue! Her irises covered her entire eye sockets, not even a glimmer of the whites of her eyes were visible. I held her in the crook of my left arm and began to talk softly to her in the quiet of that cold, mint green hospital room.

As I gazed into her eyes and she into mine...it happened. Just like a bolt of gentle and tender lightning our love was sealed to me. It was spiritually electrifying. By the time Chris and Laura were born it was there in all its glory, but not as dramatically presented because by then I was well acquainted with it. That gift that is inherited by grandchildren may even come before their actual birth I discovered. It is miraculous, penetrating, instantaneous and unconditional love!

Any number of things our children and grandchildren do may irritate us, saddened us, even offend us but the notion of withdrawing our love is not even an option, not even a thought. This is different that worldly love, isn't it? It is about God's Work and His Glory: to bring to past the immortality and eternal life of man, woman and child. Our families teach us how to love unconditionally in the most conducive setting. We are all a part of a family, past, present and future.

That is how our Savior loves us. As I try to comprehend that I can only compare it to the love of our children. It is never intermittent, never faltering no matter what we do or how we think or how much we protest. It just is, whether we know it, believe it or even want it. He is the Great I Am and His love is perfect even as He is perfect.

It seems so completely different than the way we experience love in the world. Hearts are broken constantly by a trust that fails when someone gives and takes back their definition of love at will. How many of us guard our hearts because of experiences like that that we have had? I would venture to say most of us. We learn to protect ourselves by expecting less of people who say they love us and then hurt or abandon us. It can be parents or spouses or siblings or friends...it doesn't seem to matter.

But the Savior will never love us like that. There is safety and peace in His love. And even more important is that He never misunderstands us or judges us unworthy of His love. He never tires of doing all in His power to care for us. He knows us without our having to prove ourselves by our words or deeds. He just "gets" each of us to the depths of our heart and loves us, as is. No qualifiers. No conditions. Just Love, the kind we all yearn for from the deepest part of us. We have that in Him. What does He ask in return? What is the greatest commandment, the one that all the laws of the Gospel hinge upon? In Matthew we read.

"Matthew 22:36-40

King James Version (KJV)

36 Master, which is the great commandment in the law?

37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.

38 This is the first and great commandment.

39 And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself.

40 On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets."

As we learn to love the Savior as He loves us, we will learn to put our full trust in Him, in His plan, in His will for us. Imagine what our lives could be like if we just had unconditional faith in Him and His will. If we didn't kick against things that we don't think are fair or right or good for us and we just had unconditional faith in him, how different would life be? If we loved Him that much, even as much as He loves us. It we actually tried our very best to be perfect, or whole, just as He is. If we knew Him like He knows us and could give over the driver's seat and let him be our pilot? What if we would stop worrying and started trusting Him more?

Why do we love Him? The scriptures tell us because He first loved us. Not only that but He shows us how to love so that we can get on to the next commandment which is like unto the first. So that we might love our neighbor as ourselves.

Because on these two commandments hang all the laws and the prophets. To me that is saying that if we can master these three things, life will be the very best.

Love Him as He loves and teaches us, Love ourselves as He loves us

and love our neighbors as He loves all of us.

It is the beginning and the end of a perfect plan. Mastering that kind of love is key. Love is what we give. Just as Love is what He gives. All the other commandments comes easier to us when we have the foundation of unconditional love in our lives. First His and then our own for Him and for all His children including ourself.

That kind of love that looks outside of our own wants and needs and to Him and His children around us is the goal. It takes a life time and probably longer. It is not easy nor was it meant to be. It is a refining process. It is growing in His Gospel. It is repentance and forgiveness, it is faith...lots of faith in Him. It is learning to be humble and teachable. It is forgiving ourselves when we fail miserably at His kind of love. It is getting up, dusting ourselves off and keeping our eye on the target. As we become more like Him we never want to hurt another person no matte what sacrifices are required of us. He has shown us what an ultimate sacrifice for another is by His atonement for us.

It is simple and yet so profound. I constantly find myself having to relearn this and I am so far from being where I want to be. I guess the first steps are seeing His unconditional love for us, then seeing Him as our example and then following Him. He is God; we are mere mortals with but a spark of divinity within us. But we can make progress. We have that hope and that faith for the very fact that He is our God in whom we trust. And we see evidence in many around us who are farther along the path than we are. Our Prophet, the Apostles, the very special and loved people in our lives that are closer to loving as He loves. They are all around us to lead and inspire us on our way.

I am grateful for the chances and choices placed before me and I want to love as He loves. I never want a person I love to doubt my love for them. I want to be a person of tender mercies as He is. It requires us to overcome the natural man inside of each of us. It requires us to be obedient and trusting, and it requires work. It is a good work to be engages in and it brings happiness in the struggles. The greatest understanding I have gained of this kind love is through being a parent. It helps me to know that the Savior loves us in that way and I find comfort in it. I hope you do too in whatever way He teaches you.

So what do we need to do to be worthy of His love? Absolutely nothing. He simply does Love us unconditionally. What do we need to do to partake of His promises of joy in our eternal life? Humble ourselves to follow Him, to be taught by Him and redeemed by Him and perfected or made whole in Him. Does He coerce us and force us to comply? No, He offers us all that He has and then allows us to choose for ourselves. What a gift for us to be able to choose. As Joshua said, "As for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." Joshua 24:15.

Sunday, June 1, 2014

Those Who Inspire Me

This is a flashback to September 2011

Hazie waiting for the bus on her first day
of school this year! This was her first bus ride!

I just love this series of pictures. I don't know why exactly but they represent something special to me. They brought tears to my eyes as I looked at her sweet little face, so eager, so trusting, so ready to go! I have had to ponder this experience for days to better understand why it touched me so deeply.

Getting on the Big Yellow School Bus!
This little one that has never met a stranger!
She is trying to engage this man who seems
to be unaware he is in the presence of an angel!

And off she goes to school....
To life as a big girl.

Her first independent trip away from home, away from her family and into the unknown with a smile on her face. That is courage. That is inspiring. When I saw the back of that bus...I had to think of our own daughter, Hazie's Mom. Watching her little, almost four-year-old, take off with perfect strangers on her own for the first time.

There was her little precious girl, that she has nurtured and cared for in the extreme, with all of her spina bifada issues, knowing her and helping her like no one else but a mom could. The very act of letting Hazie get on that bus and go off on her own...that had to take courage, it had to be hard. That kind of maternal courage inspires me.

I remember when Jennifer went off to school, how I wept. That little person who shared my body before birth and my soul all of her life, wasn't a baby anymore. And I prayed for her protection in a big, very uncertain world. I wanted to hold on to her and her innocence and never let the world rip it from her as it was ripping her from me right then.

I felt the same way when I saw the back of this big yellow bus. In our lives, we have those defining moments when we learn something that changes us. I am constantly amazed by the depth of love I have for our grandkids and kids and what I learn from them. I see things in them all the time that humble me and make me want to be a better person. Their refining moments refine me. The power of that love of mother to child is divine.

Their experiences bond me to them in ways I never realized they could or would. When they stretch and grow I do too and when they hurt I feel pain along with them, when they feel joy, my heart is bursting too. These feelings can be felt in other relationships, but never quite as keenly as in mother to child. Not even child-to-mother love knows of this power. Of course perhaps, a father's love for his children produces this experience too, but I can only speak of a mother's love through the heart that I know best. The courage that I see in our children and grandchildren makes me feel ashamed of my own fears sometimes. They are amazingly faithful and courageous. That inspires me to face my fears head on.

Spencer James

This very week our grandson, Spencer, has gone off for the first time as well. He is 12 so that probably seems rather strange to a lot of you. But Spencer has a disability that cannot be seen. He is deathly allergic to peanuts and soy. What this means for his parents is they must prepared all his food with caution. They never buy anything that the label isn't checked first because companies change ingredients all the time. Most of his food is made from scratch. (He will undoubtedly be healthier than most through out his life time because of it, right?) He can never eat any purchased treats like chips, cookies, candy or a gelato, or a hamburger. To a child with a peanut allergy eating can bring about unthinkable consequences. You cannot be lax, vigilance is essential 24/7.

Spencer carries an Epipen wherever he goes, he doesn't eat food prepared for parties or church dinners or in any but a couple of thoroughly screened restaurants where he is allowed pasta with butter only. He never travels on a train or plane without precautionary methods needing to be taken.

It is tougher because it is invisible and it enters into every new relationship he ever makes, as explanations and exceptions have to be made. There are emotional issues to be dealt with. I think most people never can imagine this type of thing unless they are faced with its challenges. Food is an issue and central to just about every social thing we seem to do. Imagine always being on your guard.

But this week he went on an outdoor, educational, camping trip with his new friends, at his new school, in another state. He went with every one of his meals packed and ready for him to confidently enjoy, prepared by his diligent mother. That took courage, that took faith. That is inspiring to me. I know that Laura and Robert wrestled with this and had very similar thoughts to what Jen must have when that bus drove away with her baby.

Again I do not know that I could have handled these thing well as a parent. I learn courage through their courageous acts. And I am pretty sure I would not have handled this well as a 12-year-old. There is so much security within the walls of a loving, protective home. When the grandkids are brave, I can be more brave in the things I face or may face in my life. I learn from them all the time.

These are just two examples of those who inspire me to be courageous. There is also James, always working hard and usually in pain as he does it. He just plows through in spite of the consequences physically sometimes. The sacrifices are almost always for someone else. There is also my brother, Steven, bravely enduring his cancer treatments that have been so difficult with his Steve Martin-like looks and sense of humor and a desire to lift the rest of us. That is courage that inspires me.

I have a mental list of those who inspire me to be better. You are probably on that list yourself. Who we eventually become has a lot to do with where we are looking. I am looking to God, and wonderful courageous and inspiring people that help me along my way, every day.

Do you ever think about who inspires you through their courageous living?

Saturday, May 31, 2014

The Breathtaking LDS Oakland Temple

Taken by BJM 5/31/14

This is one of the Temples of

The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints

in Oakland, California

Not only is there is a beautiful Temple here, but a large Visitors' Center and a wonderful Family History And Family Search Library. There is also a large Interstake Center for various meetings and productions. Everyone is welcome to visit these beautiful grounds and participate in many of the programs. There is no charge for admittance or programs on Temple Hill. There is a sweet and peaceful spirit here and the views of San Francisco and the Bay are breathtaking. Everyone is friendly and helpful too.

A Simple Woman's Daybook~May 30, 2014

Our lives pass swiftly by! I want to do something to remember

the everyday moments and my thoughts about them.

That is what this Daybook is all about.

Focusing on the little things that become my life.

One entry at a time.

Just for today~Saturday, May 31, 2014

Outside my window...It is pitch black out right now. It is 2:30 am and I just woke up. I had slept just enough for it to feel like a good nap. So now I am awake. If there is a moon tonight it alludes me. It is just dark, very dark. And now already it is Saturday morning at sunrise. The last day of May in 2014. May has been a blur, as was April. There has not been a normal day really since Jim's surgery. He is having a rough go of it. It went well at first but then an injury occurred and back to square two or three. I find it difficult to blog when things are not going well. For me writing requires a positive flow of energy that dissipates under too much stress. Caregiving is exhausting and necessary and a blessing not always recognized in the moment when you are worried and tired and fearful.

I am thankful for....the fact that we know that trials are a part of our lives for a reason. I am grateful that with faith and prayer the Lord will broaden our shoulders to bear the burdens of earth life. We have not been brought here for a carefree, always lovely experience, even though man is that he might have joy. That joy could never be recognized without the opposition of sorrow. Nor could we fully appreciate pleasure without the knowledge and experience of pain. We are not necessarily given the trials we can handle but we are always given the trials we need, to be sanctified and purified in Christ. It is not our job to handle it but to recognize we cannot handle it without Him. Then we humble ourselves and come unto Christ and are healed.

From the learning room...that difficulties are often sacred experiences. That there are some roads that must be traveled alone and how important it is to have support in those times. That sounds contradictory but it's not. That is where compassion is learned. When we have known our own suffering we can then reach out to others in ways that lift them and cheer them and allow them to feel love when they are down. Some people get this, many do not.

I think the thought is not that they don't feel love for someone who suffers but they assume that others are doing the work of compassion. I have learned this should never be assumed. In fact, I have the dearest of friends that has taught me that one should never assume. Those friends that have drawn close to us during this time have been so instrumental in our getting through it. Thank you from the bottom of our hearts. So yes, I have learned a lot during this time about how I want to move forward in my life with my eye open wide to what is needed by people around me. I have learned that being too busy for that is really missing the point all together. It is ministering to the one that matters the most.

I am reading...so many things everyday. Things that uplift and educate and things that are spiritual, sometimes entertaining and sometimes sobering. I cannot imagine a day without a lot of reading. I am studying for a new class I am developing for the fall on family history research methodology.

From the kitchen...I need to go shopping, per usual. I think I'll get into my Pinterest account and find some new salad recipes and some crockpot ideas. Needing some variety again. And I am thrilled that the Farmer's Market is in full swing now.

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having...I have had some thoughts about unconditional love lately. I have thought about how when we learn to love the Savior completely and unconditionally it helps us see what real love actually is. He demonstrates it to us all the time. It is not about forcing people to change for us. It is about being unconditional in our respect and caring for them. It is about showing that we love them no matter what. When we love like the world loves we spend a lot of time trying to get people to channel us and be like us. When we love as He loves we want to be more like those we respect and admire. Not the other way around. We want to improve ourselves and love them as they are.

I am hearing...The Keeper of The Stars, a sweet country song sung at Laura and Robert's wedding reception. I can still see the two of them dancing to it and thinking how appropriate the lyrics are for them.

One of my pleasures...hot chocolate in the mornings when I get up early and it is nippy even in the summer.

Pet Peeves...insects that seem to want to come to all our outdoor picnics, what a nuisance! I don't much like them in the house either but they are a part of country like living.

I am quoting...pinterest

If I could change one thing it would be...Jim would turn the corner to healing a little faster for his sake. It is hard to watch the pain.

An enjoyable movie/ TV show we have watched lately...Mrs. Brown. A beautiful movie. Judi Dench, ah, love that woman. She has had some great roles, this on is one of the very best.

I am curious about...how much better familysearch.org can possibly get?

Plans for the rest of the week...today when Jim wakes up if he is feeling better we are going to drive over to Oakland to the Temple. They are making some major changes over there to the entrance and he wants to see what's up. He has really missed his two days per week on Temple hill. The rest of the day cleaning up and getting ready for Sunday. Monday pay bills, prepare for work on Tuesday. After that I am not too sure what will be happening. All depends on James.

One of my favorite things...texting back and forth with my friend, Carol, each evening. We really have a good thing going. Friends are just so important to me in this time of my life. I am so blessed to have such good ones.

One thing that made me so happy this past week..the x-rays for Jim indicated that he does not have a fracture or an infection. Yay! Time is his best friend right now (except for Dave of course) and being careful not to overdo anything. Also I got an unexpected letter from a friend that was cheering this week.

The most surprising thing this past week...All the great new photos I found in a forsaken box amongst our things. The most beautiful picture of my mom..it made me weep. It is already framed so I can see it everyday. I had never seen it before and I found one of my aunt too. And even one of me I had never seen before either.

A photo I am sharing this week...The photo I found.

My Mom in 1940

She was 21 years old.

I love these old photos with the coloration.

So ethereal and lovely.

This is truly one of my treasures.

UNTIL THE NEXT DAYBOOK,

BE HAPPY AND CARRY ON!

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon

Sunday, May 18, 2014

A Simple Woman's Daybook~May 18, 2014

Our lives pass swiftly by! I want to do something to remember

the everyday moments and my thoughts about them.

That is what this Daybook is all about.

Focusing on the little things that become my life.

One entry at a time.

Just for today~Sunday, May 18, 2014

Outside my window...Everything looks exceptionally pretty, crisp and bright. The reason...a beautiful day looks more spectacular through clean windows! I have wanted to do them for awhile now but until the intermittent rain was over I didn't want to bother. We had a big church party here last night so that meant doing some things that really needed doing with a deadline. I actually quite love that in a normal year. A reason to get going on projects is a good thing. Especially the day after when you have rested up and now you are all ready for summer.

Each summer a wedding or something here can be a good thing. But this year was especially tough with a hip surgery patient who is also an energizer bunny, then add in a deadline to meet. That is not always a good combination and is more like the perfect storm.

I am thankful for....Jim did not hurt himself worse than he did doing all the yard work. He is hobbling around here with a cane again but I am hoping the set back is temporary. Very temporary. It has been a very long 9 weeks. Trying to keep a workaholic under wraps is no easy chore. He would simply rather die than be idle.

From the learning room...People have agency to do as they please. That is part of the test of this life. Your choices are critical. The consequences of bad choices are not optional. The consequences of good choices are blessings. The only way we can learn in some arenas is trial and error. As an example, if a surgeon says you are now free to do pretty much what you use to with prudence and caution and stop if it hurts...all those are variables according to one's perspective and life style and experience.

So Jim is learning slowly but surely what is feasible and what isn't. Our ideas about that are very different and so...we are learning together. He is learning to pace himself and I am learning not to get so exasperated when he is not doing it my way. I see it as I want him to get better by being way more careful. He is seeing it like he needs to stretch and grow and push himself to the limit without going over it.

We are both frustrated but for different reasons. Sometimes he does what he wants and is fine. Sometimes not. I guess that is how we are supposed to learn about this. Because post-op instructions are way too vague once you get a few weeks out from the surgery. We have to meet some place between an over-protective, nagging wife and Superman.

I am reading...No time for that lately except online things regarding Family History and Genealogy.

From the kitchen...Going to dinner at some friends' house tonight so yay! I may only have one more meal to cook between now and Wednesday. Woohoo!

Some spiritual thoughts I have been having... Repentance and forgiving yourself and others is so crucial to happiness and peace in this life. We are all just spiritual beings having an earthly experience. That situation is meant to tempt and try us and strengthen us as well as bring us happiness and joy. Things and people are not perfect and we shouldn't expect them to be Unrealistic expectations of other people and ourselves is just begging for misery.

I am hearing...rustling leaves and absolutely nothing else. So relaxing.

One of my pleasures...perennials. I am so tried of planting annuals. I think perennials are my new favorite flowers. Yep, I am sure of it.

Pet Peeves...getting panhandled all the time. I don't like it when people sit outside of stores just stocking their prey. My favorite response these days. "Sorry I do not carry cash...do you take credit cards?" And phone solicitors...ugh!

I am quoting...Buddha. "It is your resistance to what is, that causes your suffering." I don't usually quote Buddha from my Christian corner on the Internet, but truth is truth no matter where it comes from. This is something that if you truly ponder it could alleviate a lot of suffering.

If I could change one thing it would be...that everyone would be interested in preserving the memories of their own life and that of their parents and beyond if they know it. If you don't who will? In less than two generations a family memory can be completely lost. That is just sad. We sat around a table tonight with friends sharing stories, they were wonderful stories of real life that will be gone without some effort on the part of the storytellers.

An enjoyable movie/ TV show we have watched lately...Still thinking about The Book Thief, and The Scarlet and The Black ( an old Gregory Peck Movie.) Excellent.

I am curious about...Nothing right now. Brain is on overload as it is.

Plans for the rest of the week...tomorrow, get ready for work on Tuesday. From Wednesday on is uncertain at this point depending on how Jim is doing by then. it may be something very fun or just hanging out here at home.

One of my favorite things...having some free time. Seems like it has been in short supply of late.

One thing that made me so happy this past week..Getting together with my friend Carol for nearly a half a day without any interruptions. Also chatting with friends last night at our church party. The yard was so comfortable. A little chilly but that beats mosquitoes.

The most surprising thing this past week...was how much Jim did to prepare the house and yard for summer. That was in spite of overdoing it and paying the price. But he is just unstoppable. It just is what it is, and I am going to try to stop worrying about it and enjoy the fruits of his labors.

A photo I am sharing this week...Last week Jim and I had a few hours where we could actually go into San Francisco. We were not there long but it was so refreshing to visit the sea and have a pizza for lunch in our favorite SF pizzeria. This is one of the photos I took that I truly love. It captures what we saw and felt as we meandered around in the cypress grove above the water just north of the Cliff House restaurant. It was a magnificent day in our favorite city. Camera in hand~oh how we do love doing this. For a few hours~no hip worries. Heaven in a snapshot.

A little piece of this peace
can take me quite far from
the concerns of the day!

UNTIL THE NEXT DAYBOOK,

BE HAPPY AND CARRY ON!

❤♡♥♡❤♡♥♡❤♡♥s, Bon

Sunday, May 11, 2014

Happy Mother's Day

Mother's Day as we know it is 100 years old this year. But the celebration of the goodness mothers is eternal. Whether you are a mother or love someone that is, this is a special day to contemplate the blessings of the human family and all of our mothers since Eve that brought us to this place.

The painting by Pino is one I love. It is called Sacred Steps. It evokes such ethereal, elevated, and eternal feeling and thoughts of the sacred calling of motherhood. The painting depicts the memories of raising children to me, perhaps more than the actual day to day sacred steps to the empty nest.

As I watch our daughters, which of course includes Chris' wife, Missy, go through this process now through the eyes of my own experiences, I am enthralled all the more by the sacred steps taken to redesign and refine who a woman becomes day by day on the journey. Being a mother is a sanctifying endeavor. The joys lift you so high while the total sacrifice of your complete self in the process, seals you to it. To love a child in that way is to fill the measure of our creation as women like nothing else I know. Of course these relationships are eternal.

There are no perfect mothers but there are legions of mothers with hearts full of perfect intentions. Those mothers who want the very best for their children and who sacrifice and give and serve constantly, day after day and year after year in an eternal way. There are no releases in this calling of motherhood. They are just as important to our lives, out of the nest, as in it. We still worry and fret and yearn for their burdens to be lightened or their shoulders strengthened to carry their load. And also for a way to help them, as their mothers, in those daily struggles.

We still drop everything to run to them in times of need, all of us in our own unique ways. Although our bodies may get weary, we still desire to lift and pull and pray and give to edify and love and support them. Because that is what Mothers do, without even thinking about it. The polishing comes from the day in and day out, thick and thin of it, until it becomes who we truly are. I will always remember my sweet mother sitting in her wheelchair in her 80s, offering to help lift my burdens as I scurried around doing things. Her body was weakened but her heart and love untamed and as strong as ever. Motherhood is a miracle.

No joy is as profound to a mother as the happiness and successes of her child. No mother wants anything negative to befall her children. No matter what they do or who they become we love them completely. We love them all equally which is to say unconditionally.

This holiday means more to me each year as I learn of the sacrifices of my own individual foremothers. They had been women that have been valiant in their stewardship of motherhood through the centuries. Motherhood was not easy then, as it is not easy today. We've had different trials but equally challenging in many ways. This world will never be trouble free but their sacrifices have benefited us through the ages. A child is the only one who hears its mothers heartbeat from the inside and that heartbeat echoes within us all of our lives...passing on something of substance from each generation to the next. No matter where our mother is, she is never far from us.

In our family they have been women who packed up and shipped out of England and Sweden and Wales and Italy to keep their children from starving to death, in some cases, and from little possibility of improving their lots in life while remaining in their homelands. They are women who crossed the plains in fear and deprivation but with great faith in a brighter future because of it. Every generation tells of their abundant faith in God to see them through. This is a sacred heritage that I have seen back to the 1500s. Not a non-believer in the bunch so far. The study of these, our people, through the centuries has strengthened and fortified my faith in countless ways.

They have experienced hardships and poverty and dangers and dying children in almost every generation, sometimes more than one or two at a time. They have been uprooted and they have survived childbirth on the prairies and in sailing ships crossing the ocean with no privacy and no cleanliness and and often under insufferable, horrific conditions. There was starvation and illnesses and sorrows of every kind while they pressed forward with a perfect brightness of hope in the future, for their children and ultimately for us their posterity.

To learn of them is humbling and enlightening to say the very least. Being a mom has never been easy, not ever. But what a tremendous blessing to have a mother and to be one or to love one or many. There is no more sacred or important thing we can do in this life than to help our Heavenly Father's children through the joys and sorrow of this life. What a trust He must have in us, His daughters.

And in our husbands and the fathers of our children, who have an equal but different responsibility in this great work. What a perfect plan of happiness and joy we are given. All of us are blessed with having or being a mother. Some of us are both. But not all. To all women everywhere that help by being teachers and nurturers and who love children~God bless you. And to all men everywhere the same blessings to you for doing likewise. And that includes all Grandparents and even some Great-Grandparents who have had the glorious privilege of seeing His Plan of Happiness play out into the third and fourth generations as well. Our loving Heavenly Father has thought of everything! Find and cling to the Joy in it!