Mothers

Yesterday at church a friend of mine, Michael, asked if I would join him to give a blessing to a member of the ward in the hospital. James 5:14. The woman, we'll call her Anne, and her mother, who we'll call Joy, don't come to church often, so we didn't know them. When we arrived we spent some time getting to know them.

Joy and Anne lived here in Austin. A few years ago, Anne moved down to San Marcos to attend school. While there she took care of her grandmother (Joy's mother). A little later, Anne was diagnosed with Addison's disease, which affects hormone levels, making it difficult to do such simple tasks as walk. Since then, Joy has spent a great deal of time in San Marcos, taking care of both her mother and her daughter.

When we finished with the blessing, Joy came with us to the door. Michael said, "Happy Mother's Day, though its probably not the best Mother's Day." Joy responded, "When I'm with my mother, she wants me to hold her close. She tells me she's grateful that I can be so close to her. And now I can be here with my daughter. It's a good Mother's Day.”

I think of the mothers in my own life. My mom’s mom: when she married my grandfather he didn’t go to church, though he’d been raised Mormon. To my understanding, she wasn’t much of a churchgoer, either. As they started having kids, she felt that they needed some religion in their lives. So she began taking them to different churches. None of them felt quite right. So one day she told my grandpa, “Alvin, you’re Mormon, why don’t we go to your church?” This time, the church seemed right and it wasn’t long before she was baptized, bringing her husband back to Christ as well as shaping the lives of her (now) dozens of descendants.

My Grandma Pulsipher had her hands full, raising her first couple kids alone while my Grandpa flew missions in Korea.

My own mother, who didn’t let sleep get in her way. She raised 7 children while working 12 hours night shifts as a nurse.

My wife who, not a mother, yet, who looks at the little kids in sacrament, grabs my arm and whispers to me, “Stephen, look at all the babies!”

I know this is a day late, but I want the mothers in my life to know I love them. There are a lot of women out there who, married or single, working or stay-at-home, do simply incredible things. It would be impossible to overstate the effect these women have in our lives. Thank you and Happy (belated) Mother’s Day!