Mothers and Daughters

This week's lesson was from brother Ballard's talk about Mother's and Daughters. One point that Sis. Schiess made significant to us was that underneath the main title of the talk it said that we need to listen and learn from each other. So on the board she made a list of what the daughters should do and what the mothers should do. The daughters are to follow the examples of their mothers. He encourages young women to look to their mothers and model their patterns, rather than look to women of the world as who they should follow and become. He tells them to "learn from her strengths, her courage, and her faithfulness. Listen to her....when it comes to matters of the heart and the things of the Lord, she has a wealth of knowledge." The second thing he encourages is for daughters to love their mothers. He says, "Respect her. Listen to her. Trust her. She has your best interests at heart. She cares about your eternal safety and happiness. So be kind to her. Be patient with her imperfections, for she has them. We all do."
Next came the counsel for the mothers. First he tells us to be the kind if example we want our daughters to follow. He tells us that not only do we need to tell them what to wear, how to act, what to do, but we need to SHOW them what to wear, how to act and what to do. I love what he says, "As mothers in Israel, you are your daughters' first line of defense against the wiles of the world." Man, that struck a chord with me and I felt the Spirit consume me testifying that this is true! My "protective Mother hen" inside just fluffed up her feathers and puffed up her chest ready to defend my children from whatever may come their way...
Ok, back to the lesson. He encourages to keep teaching even when we may think that they are not listening by quoting Ralph Waldo Emerson who said " What you do speaks so loud that I cannot hear what you say." Powerful words to live by!
Next is to "find joy in nurturing children." Unfortunately so many women today do not find joy in nurturing. This is something I cannot comprehend, but have it in my own family. My sister works, not because she has to, but because (and by her own admission might I add) she tells me that she does not enjoy being home all day. I think now that her boys are a little older she is starting to realize all that she misses out on but that still does not change the fact that she believes she is "not cut out to be a stay-at-home mom." It breaks my heart. I love those moments that I refer to as "proud mommy moments." For instance when my children learn to read, or ride a bike, or when I'm at their dance recitals or soccer games. Those moments when truly only a mother could be proud. I love those moments and I thrive on them. I'm reminded just how much I really do enjoy being a mother when Maddie tells me that "this is the best day of my life," and I realize that it is a day that I have totally spent with my children and given ALL of my attention to them. I shared the moment when Maddie told me that when she becomes a mom like me she is going to let her children do whatever they want! I just smiled and told her that she will make a great mother.
We didn't have enough time to go through the entire talk ( as usual ) but Sis. Schiess reminded us that we need to watch what our young girls wear and teach them to be modest and WHY they should be modest. This is a great talk and it reawakened my passion for Motherhood and reminded me of it's importance. President Harold B. Lee said, "the most important...work you will ever do will be within the walls of your own homes."