"To the Mothers in Zion"

Have you ever read the talk by Pres. Ezra Taft Benson, "To the Mothers in Zion"?  It's worth the read.  That said, it may not be an easy read.  While it validates my efforts and it also pricks my conscience where I'm coming up short.  Both are good.  He shares ten things for mothers to be focusing on.  1) Be at the Crossroads 2) Be a Real Friend 3) Read to you Children 4) Pray with you Children 5) Have Weekly Home Evenings 6) Be Together at Mealtimes 7) Read Scriptures Daily 8) Be things as a Family 9) Teach Your Children 10) Truly love your children.

It's worth reading what he has to say about each one of those and assessing how you're doing in your divine role as a mother.  We often get down on ourselves and discouraged, but I tried to read this talk as prophetic counsel.  If there's an area of weakness then work to strengthen it.  If there's an area where you're doing well, then endorse yourself for that!  Our lives in today's world seem more complicated than the simple days mothers had when rearing their children.  But, it's worth being reminded that it's all still a choice and the simple things are often the vital things.

I love a paragraph at the end of his talk, "Here is a beautiful tribute by a son to his mother: "I don't remember much about her views of voting nor her social prestige; and what her ideas on child training, diet and eugenics were, I cannot recall.  The main thing that sifts back to me now through the thick undergrowth of years is that she loved me.  She liked to lie on the grass with me and tell stories, or to run and hide with us children  She was always hugging me.  And I liked it.  She had a sunny face.  To me it was like God, and all the beatitudes saints tell of Him.  And sing!  Of all the sensations pleasurable to my life nothing can compare with the rapture of crawling up into her lap and going to sleep while she swung to and fro in her rocking chair and sang.  Thinking of this, I wonder if the woman of today, with all her tremendous notions and plan, realized what an almighty factor she is in the shaping of her child for weal or woe.  I wonder if she realizes how much sheer love and attention count for in a child's life."

I love that none of those things cost money or take much energy.  They are simple things.  I can lie on the grass, run and hide, tell stories, rock, sing, and give hugs.  Just thinking about it makes me smile and want to pull my kids on to my lap!  Though most of them won't fit there anymore, I can still convey that I love them in other simple ways as I pray and listen.  Reading this talk validated for me the importance of what I do everyday as a mother and strengthened my resolve to be a good one.  Maybe today when my kids get home from school I can greet them into a "Haven of Delight" with a "Sunny Face!"