My thoughts on motherhood

I have often pondered what I would say if I had the opportunity to speak to all the mothers in the world. While I don't have a complete or satisfactory answer, I do want to share a few of my thoughts on my blog about motherhood since today is Mother's Day:
I think if I got to to share something with the mothers of the world I would do three things; first, give them praise for their work. Second, tell them how important that work is and third, I would give them encouragement to move forward in this eternally important role.

Praise:
After I had Ava (my first child) I remembered standing in the mirror looking at my body (almost in disgust) and I was baffled that there were so many people in the world! How could so many women be okay with having children when every woman gets their own set of stretch marks, scars, and other (somewhat unsightly) manifestations of pregnancy? How is it that so many people gave up their young, perfectly curved and beautiful bodies to these scars of motherhood so easily?
Not too long after this discouraging glance in the mirror I heard someone discussing these same scars of motherhood and he described them as beautiful while he compared them to the scars that Christ bares. Both sets of scars were created as a person unselfishly gave their body to someone they loved. I have never looked at my stretch marks and scars the same since. I will be glad someday when I can have a perfect body without them, but at the same time I can look at them and now I see selflessness, something I was willing bare to follow my Heavenly Father's will and to sacrifice for those I love.
These are not the only physical scars or signs of motherhood. Other scars might be headaches from the loud children running about the house, or a tired body and grey hairs from staying up all night with a sick child or newborn baby, or even heartache as you watch a child struggle to do the right thing and sometimes falter. Some of these scars are seen, some of them are unseen, but how amazing it is that women are ready and willing to take these on as they follow our Heavenly Father's plan!
Everyone knows that a mother's job is not an easy one. It is a constant go, go, go, give, give, give, love, love, love. I heard someone say once that it starts early in the morning and ends early the next morning. It is all about loving and teaching. For the women who become mothers I have no doubt it will be the hardest thing they will ever do. I am amazed at the women in the world, and in the church who open their homes with so much love. Truly there is no greater sacrifice that we can give, nor any greater way for Heavenly Father to teach us the lessons of life and godly virtues. It is a sanctification process and because of that it is the hardest, but most rewarding thing you will ever do. Invest yourself fully, and you will come out a changed person. Those who have undertaken the righteous calling of motherhood are certainly deserving of praise! Satan knows how critical this calling is to the work of the Lord and will give every woman a good excuse to put future children on hold, or push your children you have now aside. His messages and temptations are certainly working as we see more and more people decide to "have a dog instead of a child, because it's easier" or to put children on hold "just until I'm established in my career" or even "until I can pay for a large home". While we want our children to have the best, the best thing for them is really to have a father and mother committed to the Lord and to each other, and for that mother to be there "at the crossroads". We have already covenanted to give all that we have (time, talents, etc) to the building up of the kingdom of God. Can you think of a more perfect way to fulfill this covenant than to raise children unto the Lord? In this role, mothers are directly participating in the work and the Glory of God.

Importance:
I have already mentioned how important it is, but wanted to address it further. Sometimes the importance of motherhood gets lost between making beds, doing dishes, laundry, and preparing meals. It is easy to get so busy with temporal goals that we miss the eternal goals (or maybe better said, we miss the eternal aspects of the temporal goals). We know that to God, all things are spiritual; even doing the dishes and laundry. During those moments we are learning and molding ourselves into eternal material and we are teaching our children the attributes of Christ such as sacrifice, love, and hard work.
I do not believe that there is a single more important job than motherhood. NO job is so universal nor eternal in its consequences. Within the home is the power to ultimately change the world and eternity.
I remember as a student at BYU, it use to really hurt me when I would ask a fellow classmate what they were studying and what they wanted to be and they would reply "oh, just a mom". Just a mom?! Then I would ask another student and they would say with pride "Oh, I'm going to be a physicist!" What is it in our minds that make us think that physics are more important or impressive than children? I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with studying physics, or that knowledge isn't valuable and eternal. However, I do believe the role of a mother is more important and eternal.

Encouragement:
Because there is nothing more important that a woman can do, I KNOW Heavenly Father will not leave us to do this alone. He understands what our day entails, how we are feeling, the trials we are going through, and how our children are doing. He has given us tools: the Holy Ghost, the best parenting manual out there (the Book of Mormon), the proclamation that outlines eternal principles, a church organization that was meant to help, support, and supplement what we do in the home, and also a living prophet that gives us council.
I have not had to deal with the heartbreak of loosing a child to death or spiritual death and I cannot even imagine what it might be like. But I know that as Christ suffered in Gethsemane, he felt our pains and our sorrows. Heavenly Father's presence actually withdrew and Christ was left alone to bare these. We will never have to face that challenge! No matter what, we have a loving Father in Heaven that understands loss and is ready to comfort us with his spirit, and we have Christ who understands perfectly how we feel. Be comforted and know when your dealing with a difficult time in your parenting life that Heavenly Father knew who he was giving his child to, and if we follow his commandments we have the ability to overcome any trial that comes our way.
My heart especially goes out at this time, and I wish to give encouragement to those who have given a child up for adoption (Jen), for those who desire to have children, but haven't been able to (Cristina) and to those who have lost a child (Lindi). I love you guys and hope you can find much joy on Mother's Day despite your difficult situations. I was reminded in sacrament meeting today that "while to some, motherhood is delayed, it will never be denied" if we live worthily!

Lastly, I want to say thank you to my mom, she is amazing and I really look up to her and appreciate all the time she spent loving and teaching me. I hope to someday be half the mother she is! I want all the moms out there to know that the ultimate goal is NOT to be a perfect parent, but a perfectly committed parent. Someone who is willing to learn, and give give give, and love love love, no matter what.
I know that getting those scars of motherhood are not pleasant, sometimes they are quite painful, but they won't last forever and even those fade away. Mothers are in an eternal partnership with Heavenly Father in the task of nurturing children and he won't let you bare it alone. In fact, it is not even a possible task without his help! I love this quote from Elder Holland: "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."
I echo his words, and say these things in the name of Jesus Christ, amen.