Today, my heart has been overflowing with happiness and gratitude to my Heavenly Father for all of my blessings, and more specifically my ray of sunshine also known as Deklen. He brings so much joy and completeness to my life, and even though some days seem more than I can bare with exhaustion, frustration, and chaos, I would never trade him for anything. Today I have also reflected on the past Mother's Days I've had that were filled with sorrow when I yearned to be a mother. Looking back, I am thankful that I experienced that trial not only because I appreciate my motherhood more, but also because I can have empathy and an open heart for others who are experiencing those same feelings. I love that as women, we can celebrate the "mothers" we are, even if we don't have children of our own. Being a mother is so much more than birthing a child. It is loving. It is teaching. It is lifting someone up. It is nurturing. It is creating. Motherhood is a characteristic we can all develop with or without children. Julie B. Beck said it best when she called it a "Mother Heart".
"Paraphrasing Proverbs, a Mother Heart is...
Who can find a … woman [with a mother heart]? for her price is far above rubies. … She … worketh willingly with her hands. … With the fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard. … She stretcheth out her hand to the poor. … Strength and honour are her clothing. … She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness. She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness” (Prov. 31:10, 13, 16, 20, 25–27). A woman with a mother heart has a testimony of the restored gospel, and she teaches the principles of the gospel without equivocation. She is keeping sacred covenants made in holy temples. Her talents and skills are shared unselfishly. She gains as much education as her circumstances will allow, improving her mind and spirit with the desire to teach what she learns to the generations who follow her.
Covenant-keeping women with mother hearts know that whether motherhood comes early or late; whether they are blessed with a “quiver full” of children here in mortality or not; whether they are single, married, or left to carry the responsibility of parenthood alone—in holy temples they are “endowed with power from on high” (D&C 38:32), and with that endowment they received the promised blessings and are “persuaded of them, and embraced them” (Heb. 11:13).
Every girl and woman who makes and keeps sacred covenants can have a mother heart. There is no limit to what a woman with a mother heart can accomplish. Righteous women have changed the course of history and will continue to do so, and their influence will spread and grow exponentially throughout the eternities."
I am so thankful for my mother and her special heart that showed me, taught me and continues to teach me how to develop a Mother Heart. I am grateful to my Father in Heaven for shaping, molding, and strengthening my heart to prepare me and develop me into my eternal destiny.
Special thanks to my husband, Tyler, for capturing these special moments of Deklen and I. I love how these pictures turned out. We took hundreds of pictures and only about 20 or so turned out, but that's about how life goes! :)
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