Behind Every Good Man...

It's been said that "behind every good man is a good woman." I don't know who said it first, but the last time I heard it was in Elder's Quorum a week ago, just before Christmas, but the lesson wasn't on Christmas; it was on the strength and faith of Latter-Day Saint women. Naturally, this made me think about the strength and faith of Mary.

Just about everyone agrees that Jesus was a "good man," if not more than that, and most Christians (Catholics especially) agree that Mary was a "good woman." The angel Gabriel seemed to have a few good things to say about her, calling her "thou that art highly favoured," and telling her, "blessed art thou among women" (Luke 1: 28). It's not surprising that an especially good woman was chosen to be Jesus' mother. In fact, I think she'd almost have to be exceptionally good.

It could be said that Jesus was born perfect, and that maybe He had a perfect knowledge of the scriptures and of His role in God's plan even from the very beginning, but I'm not entirely sure. I believe that Jesus was born good, but the scriptures say that He "increased in wisdom" (Luke 2: 52), so He must not have had perfect wisdom at the start. I think He gained wisdom, just as we do, and just as it is with us, having a good mother must have helped.

I'm not saying that Jesus wouldn't have been perfect, even if Mary wasn't so good. I'm sure He would have been, because He had to be. But having a good person as a mother, and having another good person as a father must have helped Jesus understand how to be a good person as He was growing up. Those two were chosen for a reason, and I think that reason is because they were exceptionally good people.

But there are a lot of exceptionally good people, especially among women. my mother and sisters are incredible, wonderful people, and I'm not just saying that because they're among the most faithful readers of my blog. I say it because they inspire me to be a good person, just as you probably have a woman in your life who inspires you. Women, especially mothers, can be great influences for good, and I believe that Mary was one of those great women, but she certainly wasn't the only one, just as Jesus wasn't the only good man. There are a lot of good people in the world, both men and women, but I believe that most of them have a woman to thank for helping them be as good as they are.