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May 2008 Issue
I had a motherhood epiphany today. I was nestling my baby down for a nap, watching her relax and unwind into a gentle slumber, her sweet, soft breath on my cheek. The thought came to me that things are better when the children are close.
When the children are close, they find better access to food and protection from threats. There is less contention and more kindness; more order and less chaos; more understanding and less complaining; more laughter and less tears; more Spirit of the Lord and less spirit of contention.
Then I read about Helaman’s two thousand stripling warriors. Helaman tells us that even though they were “very young” and had never fought, they “did not fear death” because they had been taught by their mothers “that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them” (Alma 56:46-47).
When the actual trial of these boys’ faith came, they saved the Nephite army and the city of Cumeni, fought with exceeding valor, and were miraculously preserved from death.
Helaman recounts, “And we do justly ascribe it to the miraculous power of God, because of their exceeding faith in that which they had been taught to believe—that there was a just God, and whosoever did not doubt, that they should be preserved by his marvelous power. Now this was [their] faith; they are young, and their minds are firm, and they do put their trust in God continually. (see Alma 57: 18-27).
It was then that I realized that faith in Mother’s teachings and faith in the Lord are not two
separate and parallel concepts: they are part of the same straight line. When mother teaches faith in the living God, as a vibrant, real power, she draws her children closer to herself and both of them closer to God. She teaches her children how to draw on power that will save them spiritually, and perhaps even temporally.
Things are better for the Lord’s children when they are close to Him too. I’ll bet my life on it.
Happy Mother’s Day!
All the best,
Editor@DesertSaintsMagazine.com
