I'm one of those lucky women who loves Mother's Day. I appreciate the expressions of love and gratitude so freely given by my children and their spouses, my grandchildren, my husband and my own mother. The sweet notes, special treatment (breakfast and dinner made by R and Rick), little gifts and remembrances make me feel so loved. For that I am extremely grateful. Thank you all dear family for your love. I'm a fortunate mother. I love you all very much.
But, Mother's Day also causes many women to feel sad. I've been aware of some of these women in my group of family and friends over the years who dread Mother's day. Women who are single, divorced, single parents, or unable to bear children. My heart goes out to them always.
Sunday in church I was reminded of these women. The Bishop of the ward we were attending stood up and said something I thought was very meaningful. He said something along these lines: "Today is a day when we celebrate women, especially mothers. To those of you who are mothers, we honor your, we love you and we celebrate with you the great job you are doing to help and rear your children with love. Happy Mother's Day! We hope you feel the love and gratitude of your children and husband and that you have an enjoyable day.
There are also women in this room who approach Mother's day with a certain amount of dread. Those are the women who are unable to bear children, those who have never married, those who have children who have gone astray for a time and those who must parent their children by themselves. We may never fully know their heartache and longing to be mothers, or to be mothers with a partner by their side. We may never understand the complicated relationships between mothers and children when the relationships aren't ideal or the heartache of women who are estranged from their own mothers.
While we celebrate mothers today, we also acknowledge that there are many good women of this world who live in situations where celebrations are not being held.
To you all, we express our love and encouragement as we celebrate the good that women do in this world, regardless of their ability to bear children.
Instead of giving you all a little plant or a piece of chocolate, we've made a $100 donation in the name of this ward to the women's shelter in the area in the hopes that it will help some woman who is struggling to get on her feet again."
I admire the women I know who reach out to serve and help others, regardless of the number of children they have. While they may not have children of their own, or they may struggle with the children they do have, I admire their courage, their determination and their kindness. These are the true heroes and the women we should be celebrating on Women's Day.
