Mother, Catch the Vision of Your Call
                             
         A few years ago there appeared in a large city newspaper a true story of a
young boy, then fourteen years old.  The story was titled "The Evolution of a
Delinquent."  After rehearsing the many serious involvements the boy had had
with the law, the reporter posed the question, "What twisted paths of childhood
lead to the tortuous road of delinquency?"  Interviews with the boy's neighbors
began to supply at least part of the answer.

        One neighbor lady said, "I try not to think of him the way he is now, but how
he was when he came to our home and played with our children years ago."  Tears
filled her eyes as she recalled one afternoon when the young boy, then a small child,
rushed to her home after his father had picked him up at a day nursery.  As the little
boy held on to her hand, she asked, "Why do you always come running to our house
when you come home from the nursery?"  The tot replied sorrowfully, "Because
there is no mommy at my house."

        The woman said that this answer almost broke her heart.  There was a mommy
at his house and a father also, but many times the children were left at home alone
to care for themselves.  Often the children would go to the neighbors' homes because
there was not light and companionship at their own home.  They were afraid of the
dark.  This was not just a darkness that fades with the morning sunlight.  You see,
there is a darkness that comes when there is no mother there.

        Throughout my life I have seen the influence for good which dedicated mothers
have had in their homes.  Because of this, I should like to present my thoughts today
in hopes of giving encouragement, strength, and guidance to those of your number
who are confused and wondering about the Lord's eternal plan.

        President David O. Mckay put it beautifully when he said, speaking of
mothers,  "This ability and willingness properly to rear children, the gift to love,
and eagerness, yes, longing to express it in soul development, make motherhood
the noblest office or calling in the world.  She who can paint a masterpiece or write
a book that will influence millions deserves the admiration and the plaudits of
mankind; but she who rears successfully a family of healthy, beautiful sons and
daughters, whose influence will be felt through generations to come, whose immortal
souls will exert an influence throughout the ages long after paintings shall have
faded, and books and statues shall have been destroyed, deserve the highest
honor that man can give, and the choicest of blessings of God.  In her high duty
and service to humanity, endowing with immortality eternal spirits, she is co-partner
with the Creator himself."  (Gospel Ideals, Salt Lake City: Improvement Era, 1953, pp. 453-54.)

       One of the great tragedies of our day is the confusion in the minds of some
which would cause mothers to go to work in the marketplace.  Satan, that master
of deceit, would have us believe that when we have problems with our children,
the answer may be a nicer home in a finer neighborhood, that they might have
their own bedroom, or better quality clothes, and maybe their own car.  Satan
would have us believe that money or the things money can buy are more important
in the home than mother.

         Now there are some mothers with school-age children who are the bread-
winners of their family and they must work; they are the exception.  Fathers and
mothers, before you decide you need a second income and that mother must go
to work out of the home, may I plead  with you:  first go to the Lord in prayer and
receive his divine approbation.  Be sure he says yes.  Mothers with children and
teenagers at home, before you go out of your home to work, please count the cost
as carefully as you count the profit.  Earning a few dollars more for luxuries cloaked
in the masquerade of necessity--or a so-called opportunity for self-development
of talents in the business world, a chance to get away from the mundane
responsibilities of the home--these are all satanic substitutes for clear thinking.
They are counterfeit thoughts that subvert the responsibilities of motherhood.
 As you count the costs of  mother working out of the home, please consider the
following:

        --A mother gone when her children need her most or one who is too tired from
a day spent in employment.  Far better for a boy or girl to go to school in last year's
shirts or hand-me-down dresses that are clean even though not in the height of
fashion and come home to find mother there, than for a boy or girl to go to school
in finer and newer clothes and come home to a new TV or a baby-sitter because
Mother is away working.

I like the poem of Esther H. Doolittle:
 

                   Mother

 Sometimes when I get home from school
 And mother isn't there,
 And though I know she'll be back soon
 And I don't really care,
 Still all the furniture looks queer,
 The house seems hushed and sad:
 And then I hear her coming in,
 And, oh boy, am I glad!
 
 

 Count as the cost:

--A mother whose daily thoughts have been tinted gray by some whose morals
are not as high as hers.

--A mother whose time is so filled that she can't give full measure to the most
respected profession of all--motherhood.

--A mother whose energy is so sapped that she is sometimes neglecting her call
from the Lord, a call that will one day prepare her to become an eternal mother--
a co-creator of spiritual offspring.

 --A mother who, in a moment of confusion, had forgotten that you learn to do
by doing, you learn to be by being, that motherhood is an art to be developed
through practice.  this art isn't easy to learn, but learn you can because as you
strive, the Lord will bless you with growth, patience, wider understanding, and
loving warmth for your family's special needs.

Count as the cost:

 --A home where the heart has been weakened, oftimes destroyed because of the
wish for so-called material comforts at the expense of spiritual necessities.

         Remember, a loving Father in heaven sent some of his own for you to care
for.  As in the song "To a Child," children are not a gift to us, but a precious loan,
a priceless loan to be returned--returned more valuable than when we received
them, understanding more, better prepared to return to him who lent them to us.
The charge is ours to increase their worth.

        Our Father in heaven would rather have you comfort the scratched arm of a
little boy in patched trousers than have a baby-sitter or older sister or brother do
the same because you are away working.  He would rather have you read stories
in the afternoon to a little girl in a faded blue hand-me-down dress than have her
entertained by a color TV because you are away working to make the payments.
He would rather have a child come home from school to a mother ironing clothes
or baking cookies, than to come home to a hired housekeeper because mother is
away typing or taking shorthand to improve her job qualifications.

        Brothers and sisters, do without if you need to, but don't do without mother.
Mother is more important in the home than money or the things money can buy.
Our Father in heaven wants you to be in your home to guide these spirits as no
one else can, in spite of material sacrifices that may result.  He created you to
learn to be a good mother--an eternal mother.  It is your first and foremost calling.
No baby-sitter, no grandmother, no neighbor, no friend, no Relief Society sister,
older brother or sister, or even a loving dad can take your place.

        Again we say, unless the Holy Ghost has given you a confirmation that it is
all right, don't go out of your home for hire.

        Now, to those of us who are husbands and children, let us help our mothers
and wives be happy in our homes.  Let us love them, honor them, respect them,
revere them.  Let us help them fulfill their call from the Lord.  Let us be sure we
do our part to make our homes pleasant.  Let us help them have time for mental
improvement, for educational growth, for cultural pursuits, and for developing
talents.  A home will be blessed and enriched when a mother is encouraged in
these paths.

        I know a young mother who has a great talent in music.  She sings beautifully
and plays the piano with great feeling and ability.  Every week she gives a lesson
to each of her four little children.  Every day she spends a few minutes alone with
each child, some-times sharing with them her love for art or of music.  Besides
blessing her children and her husband with great talents, she leads a choir and
gives joy to many with her singing.  When women develop their talents, it is a
blessing to themselves and to their families.

        Remember too, brethren, a cheery "please," "thank you," or "I'm sorry,
dear" will go a long way to heal the wounds of a sometimes frustrating day.  It's
amazing what a two-minute phone call to your wife at midday can do for her spirits.
You sons and daughters and husbands, it is important for our exaltation that our
wives and mothers enjoy and learn their profession well.  Let us do our part to help
them.

        May the Lord bless mothers everywhere.  You who stay home to tend and
care for the little spirits that bless your home, may you feel that sweet spirit of
peace, contentment, and satisfaction.  To you mothers who are the bread-winners
in your family and must be gone from your home, may you be blessed with an
abundance of the spirit of heaven to strengthen and sustain you as you direct the
lives of these beautiful little ones that lighten and enliven your home.

        To you mothers who haven't yet caught the vision of your eternal call, may
you especially be enlightened by the spirit of truth as you weigh carefully in the
balance the things of real value in this life.

        In the name of Jesus Christ.  Amen.

                                                   The Ensign/May 1974--Bishop H. Burke Peterson