"All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." (Abraham Lincoln)
"Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live....Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. " (The Family: A Proclamation to the World, 1995; italics added)
"Nurture" is a wonderful word, isn't it? It calls to mind the careful, gentle cultivation of a loved one, a selfless willingness to sacrifice for their good, a vision of their potential and a yearning desire to help them achieve it.
It calls to mind motherhood.
It calls to mind the women, filled with love, who have nourished each of us "with great care, that [we] may get root, that [we] may grow up, and bring forth fruit." (Alma 32:37; scripture slightly wrested, but hopefully still doctrinally accurate)
And within the broader principle of selfless cultivation of another person, "nurturing" can take so many small, tangible forms to "bring forth [the] fruit" of latent potential:
"Parents have a sacred duty to rear their children in love and righteousness, to provide for their physical and spiritual needs, and to teach them to love and serve one another, observe the commandments of God, and be law-abiding citizens wherever they live....Mothers are primarily responsible for the nurture of their children. " (The Family: A Proclamation to the World, 1995; italics added)
"Nurture" is a wonderful word, isn't it? It calls to mind the careful, gentle cultivation of a loved one, a selfless willingness to sacrifice for their good, a vision of their potential and a yearning desire to help them achieve it.
It calls to mind motherhood.
It calls to mind the women, filled with love, who have nourished each of us "with great care, that [we] may get root, that [we] may grow up, and bring forth fruit." (Alma 32:37; scripture slightly wrested, but hopefully still doctrinally accurate)
And within the broader principle of selfless cultivation of another person, "nurturing" can take so many small, tangible forms to "bring forth [the] fruit" of latent potential:
- A note of encouragement hidden in a lunch sack
- An expression of belief and affection in another during times of despair
- Patient listening to thoughts and feelings that need to be expressed...again
- Giving space when space is desired: standing ready to embrace when comfort is needed
- Preparing a cup of piping hot cocoa, just because
- Baking a birthday cake
- Baking a half-birthday cake
- Baking a 3/4-birthday cake
- Folding another's bathroom towel just the way they like it
- A welcome home kiss
- A last wave from the window
How much richer would our lives become if we gave the meaningful relationships in our lives the same nurturing attention that a mother gives her child; so instinctively, so wholeheartedly, so consistently putting his welfare before her own? How much more powerful does the phrase "I care" become when coupled with daily acts of affection and service to literally "care" for another? How much more memorable is a tight hug than a Facebook poke?
How much more do we realize, the older we get, that we want to be like Mom?
Happy Mother's Day.
Awww, I miss Mom.
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