Mothers—and their love and loyalty – Sunday, May 08, 1960
That which is constantly close to us is likely to become common place and often takes perspective to know how much it means. This would be true of mothers, in our awareness of how much they mean. If we are most fortunate, we are so close to them in our years of youth, that hardly do we have occasion to appraise the part they perform. So, well they keep things running that hardly are we aware of what they do to keep things running well. So, well they comfort and encourage us, and take off the edge of the deeper disappointments that hardly do we realize how well.
We may sometimes be impatient; we may sometimes be annoyed by their teaching and restraint, by their counsel and concern. But in our less emotional, more reasonable moments, even early, we seem somewhat to sense their strength, their service and their selflessness, and some meaning of their love and loyalty. And even early, we somewhat sense the emptiness we feel in their absence, with some intuitive awareness of how much they one day will be missed.
Many have sought to say what mothers have meant. “My mother was an angel upon earth……. said John Quincy Adams, “Her heart was the abode of heavenly purity. She had no feelings but of kindness and beneficence…. She had known sorrow, but her sorrow was silent…. If there is existence and retribution beyond the grave, my mother is happy.”1 From her childhood, Louisa May Alcott recalled these lines of kindly encouragement from a note left in her room by her mother: “I have observed all day your patience with baby, your obedience and kindness to all. Go on trying, my child. God will give you strength and courage. I shall say a little prayer over you in your sleep. Mother.”2 Such kindly memories of mother inspired the poet to write these later lines:
Faith that withstood the shocks of toil and time;
Hope that defied despair;
Patience that conquered care;
And loyalty, whose courage was sublime;
The great deep heart that was a home for all—
Just, eloquent, and strong
In protest against wrong;
Wide charity, that knew no sin, no fall;
The Spartan spirit that made life so grand,
Mating poor daily needs
With high, heroic deeds,
That wrested happiness from Fate’s hard hand.3
It is a hallowed thing to have such memories of mothers. May mothers, in the sacred trust of righteous motherhood, continue to make such memories; and may we remember mothers, this day—and always—and the blessed memories they make.
1John Quincy Adams
2Anna Curtis Chandler, Famous Mothers and their Children
3Louisa May Alcott, Transfiguration
“The Spoken Word,” heard over Radio Station KSL and the CBS Radio Network, from the Tabernacle, Temple Square, Salt Lake City, Sunday, May 8, 1960, 11:30 a.m. to 12:00 noon, Eastern Time. Copyright 1960
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May 08, 1960
Broadcast Number 1,603