The LDS Daily WOOL© Archive - Mothers

(5/11/97)
"We hope, as sons, husbands, fathers, and grandfathers, that you, as holders of the priesthood, will be considerate and thoughtful of your sisters, your mothers, your wives, your grandmothers. The priesthood presides in the home, but it must preside as Jesus Christ presides over his Church — in love, in service, in tenderness, and in example." — Spencer W. Kimball, General Conference, April 1976

(5/9/99)
"Your children will remember your teachings forever, and when they are old, they will not depart from them. They will call you blessed—their truly angel mother. Mothers, this kind of heavenly, motherly teaching takes time—lots of time. It cannot be done effectively part-time. It must be done all the time in order to save and exalt your children. This is your divine calling." — Ezra Taft Benson, "Teachings of Ezra Taft Benson"

(5/10/99)
"I don't remember as much of my mother's teaching as I do her prayers for us. I could feel her love, and the Spirit confirmed in my heart that she loved Heavenly Father and the Savior and that her prayers would be answered. She brought blessings down on our heads then, and the memory of her prayers still does." — Henry B. Eyring, "A Legacy of Testimony", General Conference, April 1996

(5/11/99)
"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."12 And it will make your children whole as well." — Jeffrey R. Holland, "Because She Is A Mother", General Conference, April 1997

(5/12/99)
"She who bears the title to that sweetest word ever lisped by human lips, that most loved, most sacred appellation ever coined in speech, that holy, precious word—Mother.... Especially is this so when she who bears this sacred title is herself as sweet and clean and pure as the very spirits which quicken the bodies of the living souls which she brings into the world. When Mother is good, she is better than gold or precious gems! When she is as true as the fixed stars and as clear as the moon and as bright as the sun, the highest type of motherhood!" — Joseph Fielding Smith, "Life of Joseph F. Smith", p.452

(12/31/03)
"Sometimes the decision of a child or a grandchild will break your heart. Sometimes expectations won't immediately be met. Every mother and father worries about that. Even that beloved and wonderfully successful parent President Joseph F. Smith pled, 'Oh! God, let me not lose my own.' That is every parent's cry, and in it is something of every parent's fear. But no one has failed who keeps trying and keeps praying. You have every right to receive encouragement and to know in the end your children will call your name blessed, just like those generations of foremothers before you who hoped your same hopes and felt your same fears." - Jeffrey R. Holland, "Because She Is a Mother," General Conference, April 1997

(5/9/04)
You have walked the sometimes painful, sometimes joyous path of parenthood. You have walked hand in hand with God in the great process of bringing children into the world that they might experience this estate along the road of immortality and eternal life. It has not been easy rearing a family. Most of you have had to sacrifice and skimp and labor night and day. As I think of you and your circumstances, I think of the words of Anne Campbell, who wrote as she looked upon her children:

You are the trip I did not take;
You are the pearls I cannot buy;
You are my blue Italian lake;
You are my piece of foreign sky.
("To My Child," quoted in Charles L. Wallis, ed., The Treasure Chest [1965], 54)

You sisters are the real builders of the nation wherever you live, for you have created homes of strength and peace and security. These become the very sinew of any nation.

Gordon B. Hinckley
"Women of the Church"
"Ensign," November 1996, p. 67

(5/6/05)
"Heartwarming is the example of the mother in America who prayed for her son's well-being as the ship on which he served sailed into the bloody cauldron known as the Pacific theater of war. Each morning she would arise from kneeling in prayer and serve as a volunteer on those production lines which became lifelines to men in battle. Could it he that a mother's own handiwork might somehow directly affect the life of a loved one? All who knew her and her family cherished the actual account of her sailor son, Elgin Staples, whose ship went down off Guadalcanal. Staples was swept over the side; but he survived, thanks to a life belt that proved, on later examination, to have been inspected, packed, and stamped back home in Akron, Ohio, by his own mother!" - Thomas S. Monson, "The Prayer of Faith," Ensign, May 1978, p. 21

(5/7/05)
"To you wives and mothers who work to maintain stable homes where there is an environment of love and respect and appreciation I say, the Lord bless you. Regardless of your circumstances, walk with faith. Rear your children in light and truth. Teach them to pray while they are young. Read to them from the scriptures even though they may not understand all that you read. Teach them to pay their tithes and offerings on the first money they ever receive. Let this practice become a habit in their lives. Teach your sons to honor womanhood. Teach your daughters to walk in virtue. Accept responsibility in the Church, and trust in the Lord to make you equal to any call you may receive. Your example will set a pattern for your children. Reach out in love to those in distress and need." - Gordon B. Hinckley, "Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World," Ensign, Nov. 1995, p. 99

5/8/06
"In Proverbs, King Lemuel speaks of what his mother taught him. She gave him such an impressive guide that it is recorded in great detail. She made a particular point of telling him about the qualities and attitudes to look for in a wife and in the mother of his children, if his household were to be so well managed that in the end the children would rise up and call their mother blessed. (See Prov. 31:28.)

"We need this kind of specific counsel in this day when so many avenues of interest are open to women, and when more and more opportunities are coming to us. We need to look very closely not only at the offerings, but also at our own family's needs if, finally, our children are to receive here in mortality the eternal blessings that a mother is so ably qualified to give.

"Each mother will have to determine how she can bless her children. Because of the many options from which a woman might choose, it becomes extremely important that she select carefully." - Barbara B. Smith, "Her Children Arise Up, and Call Her Blessed," Ensign (CR), May 1982, p.79

5/9/06
"How should those who bear the priesthood treat their wives and the other women in their family? Our wives need to be cherished. They need to hear their husbands call them blessed, and the children need to hear their fathers generously praise their mothers (see Prov. 31:28). The Lord values his daughters just as much as he does his sons. In marriage, neither is superior; each has a different primary and divine responsibility. Chief among these different responsibilities for wives is the calling of motherhood. I firmly believe that our dear faithful sisters enjoy a special spiritual enrichment which is inherent in their natures." - James E. Faust, "Keeping Covenants and Honoring the Priesthood," Ensign (CR), November 1993, p.36

11/14/06
"If you try your best to be the best parent you can be, you will have done all that a human being can do and all that God expects you to do.

"There are some lines attributed to Victor Hugo 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 a soldier.

"'No,' said the sergeant, 'because she is a mother.'" - Jeffrey R. Holland, "Because She Is A Mother," Ensign, May 1997

5/13/07
"Think for a moment of Mary, the mother of Jesus. Recall the visit of the angel announcing the forthcoming birth-the wonder and the joy of it, the literal Son of God to be given an earthly tabernacle through her! None of us, of course, would seek to equate our calling with that of Mary or to compare our own children with the divine Savior. But the parallels are unquestionably there. We too are partners with God in furthering his plan. We too are partners with God in providing earthly tabernacles for his spirit children. We too are essential links in the chain of earthly experience which since the time of Adam and Eve has been providing the mortal testing-ground that is the gateway to immortality and eternal life." - Camilla Eyring Kimball, "The Writings of Camilla Eyring Kimball," edited by Edward L. Kimball, p.69

11/2/07
"The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know. Children are being born into a world where they 'wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places' (Ephesians 6:12). However, mothers need not fear. When mothers know who they are and who God is and have made covenants with Him, they will have great power and influence for good on their children." - Julie B. Beck, "Mothers Who Know," General Conference, 7 October 2007

8/15/09
“The power of a mother’s prayers should never be underestimated. President Heber J. Grant said of his mother, ‘So near to the Lord would she get in her prayers that they were a wonderful inspiration to me from childhood to manhood’ (Arrington and Madsen, Mothers of the Prophets, p. 109). President Ezra Taft Benson explained his feelings, ‘When your mother prays with such fervor, night after night, you think twice before you do something to disappoint her’ (Ibid., p. 197). One of our elders said, ‘When I came on my mission, I saw a statue of a lady kneeling and praying. I've never forgotten that. I know that my mom has been on her knees every day for me.’ He did not doubt his mother knew her Father in Heaven!” - Ardeth Greene Kapp, “What Latter-day Stripling Warriors Learn from Their Mothers,” p. 65

2/28/16
It is the home which produces the nursery stock of new generations. I hope that you mothers will realize that when all is said and done, you have no more compelling responsibility, nor any laden with greater rewards, than the nurture you give your children in an environment of security, peace, companionship, love, and motivation to grow and do well. - Gordon B. Hinckley, "Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World," Ensign (CR), November 1995, p.98

 
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