The Blessing of the Love of a Mother

As promised, tonight I'm going to blog about Elder Jeffrey R. Holland's talk, Behold Thy Mother, and as predicted, my blog post won't be anywhere near as good as the talk itself is or as my mother deserves it to be. I would have loved to have written something about the love of mothers and how Christlike it is, drawing many detailed comparisons, but I just haven't been able to find the right words. So instead, I'll use some of Elder Holland's: "no love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child."

To illustrate this, Elder Holland shared the example of a young man who was struggling with a very difficult, deeply personal challenge. The young man eventually overcame many of his struggles, and when he did, he knew exactly who he had to thank for that.

He knows he owes much to many, but he knows he owes the most to two messianic figures in his life, two who bore him and carried him, labored with him and delivered him—his Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, and his determined, redemptive, absolutely saintly mother.

I have not yet been delivered from all my ills, and I still need frequent help from both God and others. However, I've discovered that the one thing that gives me the most strength is the love and support I get from my Heavenly Father and my earthly, but still heavenly, mother. Though she may doubt it sometimes, she is a powerfully positive influence in my life and a wonderfully Christlike woman. Everyone that knows her knows that she is a good person. I am blessed to have a mother like her.