Motherhood - Chapter 17 - Mother's Day

When I was selected as Nevada's Young Mother of the Year I was given a packet that included instructions for creating a portfolio. This portfolio was sent to the National American Mothers board for review to help them select a National Young Mother. They had about 10 specific questions they wanted me to answer in no more than one page. One of those questions and my answer I felt was appropriate to share to day on Mother's Day because my answer is all about my own mother.

I love you Mom and I am so grateful for you tireless example and continuing mothering of me even to this day. Thank you for all you have been and continue to be for me! This is for you!

What has influenced your understanding of what a mother and wife should be? How has this affected your life as a mother and wife?

Few things have influenced my understanding of what a mother and wife should be more than the example of my own mother. I find the stellar example of my mother affecting my own life nearly daily as I balance discipline with love, work to maintain my marital relationship, and try to set a tone of peace and love in our home.

My mother had a great balance of discipline and love. She raised five obedient, highly successful children. Much of the credit to our success comes down to my mother’s untiring training in obedience. She made sure that each command she gave us as young children was obeyed. If we did not do as she asked she would get up and come help us obey in a loving way. This established a pattern of obedience in us that has continued throughout our lives. I find myself struggling to do this as well as she did everyday. It is a challenge to get up and help my 5 year old obey when I am seven months pregnant and I have a one year old crying on my lap. Yet her example pushes me to strive beyond my natural resistance and get up and do it.

My mother has also maintained a great relationship with my father in their now 43 years of marriage. She recognized how important it was to keep her marriage strong. She and my father have a very open line of communication and never go to bed angry. She and my father took trips together about once a year without us children so they could reconnect on an adult level. My husband and I have incorporated these things in our own marriage.

Most importantly, my mother set a tone of order, peace and love in our home that allowed her to feel and use guidance from heaven in her duties as wife and mother. I too pray to have this same Spirit in our home daily and work to create an atmosphere of order, safety, and peace in which my family can thrive and live the lives God would have them live.