Whenever Mother’s Day creeps around, I think of my mother and what an amazing person she is. She has always been there for me through the good, the bad, and the ugly! I would not be here if it wasn’t for her and I am so grateful for the strong, beautiful, example she is. As I think about her qualities, I asked myself, “What is a mother?” I asked some friends to give me some attributes of a mother, and these were the responses I received.: nurturing. loving. caring, teacher, giving service, a curer of owies, patient, and creative. As I thought about these and so many others I was given, I realized that we, as women, are given these attributes whether we have children or not. The definition of motherhood is not just defined by bearing and raising children, but by the divine qualities we as women inherit.

I have a great mother who can never be replaced, but I also have had many, many women around me who were mother-like figures, who helped raise me and who taught me so many lessons. I have had aunts, friends, grandmas, and so many other women in my life who have been “like a mother” to me throughout the different stages of my life. I remember, as a teenager, thinking my mom didn’t know anything (sound like your teenagers?) and I found comfort in her friends or a neighbor as I sought for advice on making it through the new territories of boys, dating, girlfriends, and high school! Then I moved on to college, and had a whole new set of mother-like figures around me helping me in my biggest life’s decisions–where to go to school, what to study, and finding the one I’d spend my life with. Yes, I have been truly blessed to have a wonderful mother, but to also have so many wonderful women who have helped mold and shape me into the mother and women I am today. In fact I am still meeting women who are blessing my life with their wisdom and experience. Not all of them have their own children, but they are compassionate, loving, nurturing, and kind. They fill a mother role for me.

I have also learned a lot of life’s lessons from the women in the scriptures. We begin with Eve, the mother of all living. One thing that has stuck out to me was that she was named Eve, the mother of all living, before she ever bore children. She was strong, independent, and faithful, and to me, it confirms to me our calling as a mother is not always the number of children we have, but the qualities and divine nature our Heavenly Father has given each and every one of us. These attributes are present in so many other women in the Bible, such as Ruth, (one of my favorites), who showed great love and loyalty to her mother-in-law when she decided to stay with her and not return to her land in Moab. Then, of course, we have Mary, who became a mother when she bore our Savior, and did so with such faith and humility.

I am so very thankful and honored I am a mother. It is a divine role and gift my Heavenly Father trusted me with. I look in my daughter’s eyes and can feel and see the great love my Heavenly Father has for me to send me such a beautiful and sweet daughter. It’s definitely not an easy job, but it is the best job in the world. There is nothing more fulfilling than being a mother and I am grateful I have the opportunity to be one in this life and for eternity. I do cherish my role as a

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mother, but I also cherish the role and divine nature of being a woman. I am so grateful for the women examples in my life who have cherished their roles and have been huge blessings to me.

This Mother’s Day, celebrate your mothers, but don’t forget to celebrate all the women in your life who have been there for you. They have played such a special part in who you are today. Remember, if you are a mother yourself, Heavenly Father would not have given you your sweet children if He did not know with all his heart you could do it. You have a sacred calling. Cherish it. If you do not have children for whatever reason, we are celebrating you too! Because motherhood is so much more than just having children. It is being a strong, loving and nurturing woman; motherhood is yours too. Happy Mother’s Day to all the women out there, and a very special Happy Mother’s Day to my beautiful mother.

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