turned her loving concerns over to Heavenly Father

Years ago I received a phone call from a distraught mother. She told me that her daughter had moved far from home. She sensed from the little contact she had with her daughter that something was terribly wrong. She pleaded with me to help.

I found out who the daughter’s home teacher was. You can tell by that name that it was a long time ago. I called him. He was young. Yet he told me that he and his companion both had been awakened in the night with not only concern for the daughter but with inspiration that she was about to make choices that would bring sadness and misery. With only that inspiration of the Spirit, they went to see her.

At first she did not want to tell them about her situation. Under inspiration, they pleaded with her to repent and choose the path the Lord had for her. She realized then, I believe by the Spirit, that the only way they could have known what they knew about her life was from God. A mother turned her loving concerns over to Heavenly Father and the Savior. The Holy Ghost had been sent to those home teachers because they were willing to serve the Lord. They had followed the counsel and promise found in the Doctrine and Covenants:

“Let thy bowels also be full of charity towards all men, and to the household of faith, and let virtue garnish thy thoughts unceasingly; then shall thy confidence wax strong in the presence of God; and the doctrine of the priesthood shall distil upon thy soul as the dews from heaven.

“The Holy Ghost shall be thy constant companion, and thy scepter an unchanging scepter of righteousness and truth; and thy dominion shall be an everlasting dominion, and without compulsory means it shall flow unto thee forever and ever.”

Henry B. Eyring

"Our Constant Companion" General Conference October 2023

centers on family life

“The great plan of happiness” centers on family life. The husband is the head of the home and the wife the heart of the home. And marriage is an equal partnership. A Latter-day Saint man is a responsible family man, faithful in the gospel. He is a caring, devoted husband and father. He reveres womanhood. The wife sustains her husband. Both parents nurture the spiritual growth of their children. 

Boyd K. Packer, "Guided by the Holy Spirit." April 2011 General Conference

work outside the home

We should all be careful not to be judgmental or assume that sisters are less valiant if the decision is made to work outside the home. We rarely understand or fully appreciate people’s circumstances. Husbands and wives should prayerfully counsel together, understanding they are accountable to God for their decisions. 

Quentin L. Cook, "LDS Women Are Incredible!" April 2011 General Conference

her primary efforts

No woman should ever feel the need to apologize or feel that her contribution is less significant because she is devoting her primary efforts to raising and nurturing children. Nothing could be more significant in our Father in Heaven’s plan. 

Quentin L. Cook, "LDS Women Are Incredible!" April 2011 General Conference

heaven is at the feet of your mother

When she tried to explain it to friends and family, Kathy fumbled. But she knew that in Islam she had found calm. The doubt sewn into the faith gave her room to think, to question. The answers the Qur’an provided have her a way forward. Even her view of her family softened through the lens of Islam. She was less aggressive. She had always fought with her mother, but Islam taught her that “heaven is at the feet of your mother,” and this reined her in. She stopped talking back and learned to be more patient and forgiving. It brought back a purity in me, she would say.

Zeitoun by Dave Eggers. Random House, Inc. 2010.

a special shield

Our family consisted of our parents and six children. The three oldest were girls and three youngest were boys. My brothers and I shared the same bedroom. As we advanced in age we graduated from prayers at Mother’s knee to personal prayers at our bedside. Mother continued to supervise the process until she was certain we were sufficiently mature to handle it on our own. As we retired, we always had a consciousness of the nearness of Mother. She would stand outside our door until the right combination of sounds verified the fact that her sons had been on their knees to thank the Lord for his blessings of that day. If we were forgetful we would hear her voice, “Boys, have you said your prayers?” If we had remembered, then after prayers were completed and we jumped into bed, we would hear her footsteps going downstairs to complete her day’s activities.

Mother assumed the responsibility each morning of turning the backs of the chairs toward the table as a reminder to have family prayers before partaking of the first nourishment of the day. How we enjoyed hearing our father pour out his heart to the Lord asking for the protection of his family! It was as if a special shield had been placed around us by a father bearing the priesthood as we would embark on our daily activities at the beginning of each day.



L. Tom Perry, “Knowing and Accepting Answers to Prayer,” Prayer. Deseret Book Company, Salt Lake City, UT. 1978. P.53

mother told me

My good friend Don Pearson shared an experience that highlights this influence. One night his four-year-old son asked him to read a bedtime story. Eric had picked out his favorite book: The Ballooning Adventures of Paddy Pork, a story about a family who lived on the isles of the sea and traveled from island to island by hot-air balloon. It was a picture book that had no words, so Brother Pearson made up words to the story.

“Paddy is in a hot-air balloon. He is landing on an island now. He is dropping a line over the side of the balloon.”

Eric stopped him. “Dad, that is not a line. It’s a rope.”

Brother Pearson looked at Eric and back at the picture book, and then he continued: “Paddy is getting out of the balloon and climbing down the tree. Oh no! His coat is caught on a limb!”

Again Eric stopped him. “Dad, that’s not a coat. It’s a jacket.”

By now Brother Pearson was somewhat perplexed. He said, “Eric, there are no words in this book, just pictures. Why do you insist that it’s a jacket?”

Eric answered, “Because Mother told me.”

His father closed the book and said, “Eric, who do you think is the last word, the ultimate authority in this house?”

This time Eric thought carefully before he answered, “You are, Dad.”

Brother Pearson beamed at his son. What an exceptional answer! “How did you know that?”

Eric quickly responded, “Mother told me.”

As President James E. Faust said: “There is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation” (“Fathers, Mothers, Marriage,” Liahona and Ensign, Aug. 2004, 3).



Bradley D. Foster, "Mother Told Me ." General Conference, April 2010

are you in there?

For our interactions with youth to truly touch their hearts, we have to pay attention to them just as we would pay attention to a trusted adult colleague or close friend. Most important is asking them questions, letting them talk, and then being willing to listen—yes, listen and listen some more—even hearken with spiritual ears! Several years ago I was reading the newspaper when one of my young grandsons snuggled up to me. As I read, I was delighted to hear his sweet voice chattering on in the background. Imagine my surprise when, a few moments later, he pushed himself between me and the paper. Taking my face in his hands and pressing his nose up to mine, he asked, “Grandpa! Are you in there?”

Mother, Father, are you in there? Grandpa, Grandma, are you there? Being there means understanding the hearts of our youth and connecting with them. And connecting with them means not just conversing with them but doing things with them too.


Robert D. Hales, "Our Duty to God: The Mission of Parents and Leaders to the Rising Generation." General Conference, April 2010

understanding their hearts

Besides showing youth the way by example, we lead them by understanding their hearts and walking alongside them on the gospel path. To truly understand their hearts, we must do more than just be in the same room or attend the same family and Church activities. We must plan and take advantage of teaching moments that make a deep and lasting impression upon their minds and hearts.



Robert D. Hales, "Our Duty to God: The Mission of Parents and Leaders to the Rising Generation." General Conference, April 2010

hold your tongues

Mothers, teach your daughters that a faithful daughter of God avoids the temptation to gossip or judge one another. In a sermon to the Relief Society of Nauvoo, the Prophet Joseph counseled, “The tongue is an unruly member—hold your tongues about things of no moment” (Teachings of Presidents of the Church: Joseph Smith [2007], 455).


Elder M. Russell Ballard, "Mothers and Daughters." General Conference, April 2010

look to you faithful mothers

It is, unfortunately, all too easy to illustrate the confusion and distortion of womanhood in contemporary society. Immodest, immoral, intemperate women jam the airwaves, monopolize magazines, and slink across movie screens—all while being celebrated by the world. The Apostle Paul spoke prophetically of “perilous times” that will come in the last days and specifically referenced something that may have seemed particularly perilous to him: “silly women laden with sins, led away with divers lusts” (2 Timothy 3:1, 6). Popular culture today often makes women look silly, inconsequential, mindless, and powerless. It objectifies them and disrespects them and then suggests that they are able to leave their mark on mankind only by seduction—easily the most pervasively dangerous message the adversary sends to women about themselves.

And so, my dear young women, with all my heart I urge you not to look to contemporary culture for your role models and mentors. Please look to your faithful mothers for a pattern to follow. Model yourselves after them, not after celebrities whose standards are not the Lord’s standards and whose values may not reflect an eternal perspective. Look to your mother. Learn from her strengths, her courage, and her faithfulness. Listen to her. She may not be a whiz at texting; she may not even have a Facebook page. But when it comes to matters of the heart and the things of the Lord, she has a wealth of knowledge. As you approach the time for marriage and young motherhood, she will be your greatest source of wisdom. No other person on earth loves you in the same way or is willing to sacrifice as much to encourage you and help you find happiness—in this life and forever.


Elder M. Russell Ballard, "Mothers and Daughters." General Conference, April 2010

good American mothers

How much American soldiers are indebted to good American mothers. When they go to the front, what prayers go with them!


General Ulysses S. Grant, One Nation Under God: The History of Prayer in America by James P. Moore, Jr. Doubleday, 2005. p.177

warn with so few words

I can still remember my mother speaking softly to me one Saturday afternoon when, as a little boy, I asked her for permission to do something I thought was perfectly reasonable and which she knew was dangerous. I still am amazed at the power she was granted, I believe from the Lord, to turn me around with so few words. As I remember them, they were: “Oh, I suppose you could do that. But the choice is yours.” The only warning was in the emphasis she put on the words could and choice. Yet that was enough for me.

Her power to warn with so few words sprang from three things I knew about her. First, I knew she loved me. Second, I knew she had faced similar situations and had been blessed by making the right choice. And third, she had conveyed to me her sure testimony that the choice I had to make was so important that the Lord would tell me what to do if I asked Him. Love, example, and testimony: those were keys that day, and they have been whenever I have been blessed to hear and then heed the warning of a servant of the Lord.


Henry B. Eyring, “Let Us Raise Our Voice of Warning,” Ensign, Jan 2009, 4–9

God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.


Jewish Proverb. Ben-Hur By Lew Wallace Published by St. Kugli, 1881. p.219

new motherhood

This morning,
In the hush of dawn
I know the miracle of birth
I looked on the small child
In my arms
And felt full ownership
Of Earth!


Katherine Edelman. Quoted in correspondence from Grandma Carmen Dibble to Alexandra Dibble dated March 11th, 2001

Don't you know it's your laugh we laugh that
pulls us through
And the strength and the love that we carry
We got it from you


Frazey Ford, Samantha Parton, Trish Klein. "Momsong." Lyrics. Blue Horse. Nettwerk, 2001.

Homemaking is a word of disparagement in the eyes of some, and it should not be. But we may need to define it. Homemaking is not just baking bread or cleaning a house. Homemaking is to make the environment necessary to nurture our children toward eternal life, which is our responsibility as parents. And that homemaking is as much for fathers as it is for mothers.


Elder Oaks. Roundtable Discussion (Dallin H. Oaks, Jeffrey R. Holland, Julie B. Beck, Susan W. Tanner, Cheryl C. Lant) - Worldwide Leadership Training Meeting: Building Up a Righteous Posterity, February 9, 2008

Mothers who know do less. They permit less of what will not bear good fruit eternally. They allow less media in their homes, less distraction, 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 goods 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. Their goal is to prepare future fathers and mothers who will be builders of the Lord’s kingdom for the next 50 years. That is influence; that is power.


Julie B. Beck, “Mothers Who Know,” Ensign, Nov 2007, 76–78

It is within our families that we learn unconditional love, which cancome to us and draw us very close to God's love. It is within families that values are taught and character is built. Father and mother are callings from which we will never be released, and there is no more important stewardship than the responsibility we have for God's spirit children who come into our families.


M. Russell Ballard, "Let Our Voices be Heard," Ensign, Nov. 2003, 16.

There are some among us who are unhappy with their lives because they have wanted to achieve a measure of greatness in this life but now feel they have failed in some fundamental way. . . .

[Joseph F. Smith wrote:] 'Those things which we call extraordinary, remarkable, or unusual may make history, but they do not make real life.

'After all, to do well those things which God ordained to be the common lot of all mankind, is the truest greatness. To be a successful father or a successful mother is greater than to be a successful general or a successful statesman.' (Juvenile Instructor, 15 Dec. 1905, p. 752.) . . .

True greatness is never a result of a chance occurrence or a one-time effort or achievement. It requires the development of character. It requires a multitude of correct decisions for the everyday choices between good and evil.


Howard W. Hunter, "True Greatness," Ensign, May 1982, 19-20