The Value of Motherhood and Womanhood

We live in a time when the idea of motherhood is degraded. A lowly station, not worthy of praise or recognition. Not to be aspired to, devalued and overlooked. And yet the time, work, and effort required of mothers is without price. Who can measure a mother's worth? Who can measure the worth of a child? It is unfortunate that the insignificance of motherhood is perpetuated by men AND WOMEN alike. How can women downgrade their own eternal value and nobility?

We are often overlooked, under appreciated, undervalued, even sometimes in our own homes. We are probably all guilty of overlooking our own mother. We often don't recognize and notice everything a mother does. It is all behind the scenes.  But to be a mother, suddenly all the invisible efforts come out of the woodwork.

I am guilty of expecting praise and recognition only to be disappointed. We have to find our own value. We cannot look outside ourselves. We have to find it within ourselves, and in God. We have to be proud of our motherhood and stand for it. We can change the world one day at a time, one child at a time.  I learning this slowly.  It's hard to recognize your own value when others don't. It's hard to think you are doing a great work when your work includes piles of dirty laundry, when you wade through mess after mess, find it hard to get yourself ready for the day, and struggle with how to teach your children to whine just a little less. The tasks of motherhood are usually very mundane. We are more than our surroundings. Our work is more than the mundane daily tasks. We cannot expect others to value us if we do not value ourselves and the nobility of our work.

This past weekend I stood alongside the bed of a woman who had just given birth to a beautiful baby boy. The father had tears in his eyes, for his son was not expected to live longer than a few hours. His mother held him tightly, but smiled down at him. I expected to see grief and heartache. Although I am sure she felt an abundance of sadness, she was just so grateful to hold him for a few hours and listen to him breath, and consider the hope of raising him someday, to get a glimpse of the future. They had called many loved ones to come visit, family and friends, to come and see their son before he was to be called back home. This mother knew she was giving up her son now, but knew she was not losing him forever. He would be hers to hold again because motherhood is eternal. She has no idea, but she inspired me.

As President Monson said so well, "Who can probe a mother’s love? Who can comprehend in its entirety the lofty role of a mother? With perfect trust in God, she walks, her hand in his, into the valley of the shadow of death that you and I might come forth unto life...  The 'Mother forgotten' is observed all too frequently. ... May each of us treasure this truth; one cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one."

I am making a resolve to daily find my own value in motherhood and womanhood, to rely less on the praise of others, and to find fulfillment with God in my sacred calling.

-Laura Morris