My Mother

I am working on a lesson to teach to the Young Women in church on Sunday. It is about honoring parents and supporting family members. I dedicate this post to my mother.

A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts. ~Washington Irving

I have been truly blessed to have the mother that I have. It is not by fate that I am her daughter~ God designed this; so that we could go through this life together, learning and sharing in each other's happiness and sorrow.

I have mentioned in previous posts, that as a child I loved to be with my mother and my friends even loved to be around my mother. Some of the greatest memories that I have with my mother was time spent running errands with her. It was fun and I always enjoyed our conversations.

My mother taught me that I could do and be anything that I wanted and I believed her. She showed confidence in me and in my ability to make decisions and if I made a wrong decision she was ALWAYS there to help pick up the pieces and begin again. I remember one time in particular I was living in Utah.......I had an extremely painful break-up. She knew I was barely functioning and she flew me home for a couple weeks to help me regroup. I cried almost the entire time on the plane ride home (4 1/2 hours) and as soon as she met me at the gate; I broke down again. I don't think I said anything for the next hour. My step-father was driving us home and she got into the back seat with me and put her arms around me and let me SOB on her shoulder all the way home while she kept telling me I would get through this and giving me words of encouragement. At home, with her, I was able to be strengthened, fortified and to be reminded of the capacity that I had within me to move forward.

My mother taught me about strength and self-determination by watching her example. My father passed away when I was 16 and she was left alone at age 40 with 6 children ranging in ages from 8-18. After the day of the funeral, I never saw my mother cry about my father. Even though I never saw her, I knew that she did and years later I asked her why I never saw her cry. She said it was because she didn't want us (the children) to have the added burden (with all that we were dealing with) of a sad mother and that she wanted to "keep it together" for us. She was the epitome of courage and of forging forward.

She is an exemplar in teaching me to love Christ. She taught me to pray always and to thank my Heavenly Father for every blessing that I have. She taught me to recognize that I am not perfect but that I can be forgiven and to keep trying to do my best. She taught me that trials are lessons and to learn from them. She taught me to be strong in my faith and that faith always precedes a miracle. She taught me the value of paying an honest tithe and I have often marveled at the blessings that come from paying tithing. Through her example and counsel, I have learned to depend on my personal relationship with God to carry me through this life.

I could go on and on about all of the things I have learned (and continue to learn) from my mother. She is an extraordinary woman. I think the three words that best describe my mother are FAITHFUL, DETERMINED, and ENDURING. She has buried two husbands, raised 6 children, served a mission for our church, sacrificed for our family and continues to be the formidable matriarch of our family. She is a very involved grandmother and my nieces and nephews are blessed to know her as their "Granny". She is still the person I cry to with heartaches, with trials, and with sorrows. She is also the person I still go to with accomplishments, to share happy experiences, and to talk about spiritual things.

My mother is an amazing woman. She rarely gets accolades for the things she does and I know we don't express enough how much she is admired and loved. She is my mother by design.....this I know without a shadow of doubt.