(Image entitled "Young Mother Sewing" by Mary Cassatt)
In October 2007, I listened to a talk by Julie B. Beck entitled, Mothers Who Know, which had a significant influence on my life. She taught how the world needs more women who recognize and fulfill their divine roles. I feel strongly that her words are true. As I listened to her speak, my heart was filled with hope as I saw more clearly that the path I am on is exactly where I need to be. This knowledge gave me the confidence to move forward in cultivating talents that will improve my abilities as a woman, wife, mother and homemaker. I know that as a I become a "Mother Who Knows" I will draw closer to the Savior and will be filled with the eternal joy given to all who follow Him.
The excerpts below are taken directly from that address:
* "The responsibility mothers have today has never required more vigilance. More than at any time in the history of the world, we need mothers who know..."
* "There is eternal influence and power in motherhood."
* "Mothers who know are nurturers. This is their special assignment and role under the plan of happiness. To nurture means to cultivate, care for and make grow. Therefore, mothers who know create a climate for spiritual and temporal growth in their homes."
* "Another word for nurturing is homemaking. Homemaking includes cooking, washing clothes and dishes, and keeping an orderly home. Home is where women have the most power and influence; therefore, [we] should be the best homemakers in the world."
* "Nurturing mothers are knowledgeable, but all the education women attain will avail them nothing if they do not have the skill to make a home that creates a climate for spiritual growth. Growth happens best in a 'house of order'... Nurturing requires organization, patience, love, and work."
* "Wise mothers... are selective about their own activities and involvement to conserve their limited strength in order to maximize their influence where it matters most."
* "Mothers who know are always teachers."
* "Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distractions, less activity that draws their children away from their home. Mothers who know are willing to live on less and consume less of the world's good in order to spend more time with their children - more time eating together, more time working together, more time reading together, more time talking, laughing, singing and exemplifying. These mothers choose carefully and do not try to choose it all. Their goal is to prepare a rising generation of children who will take the gospel of Jesus Christ into the entire world... That is influence; that is power."
