A young boy looked up from the bench on the baseball field, hoping to catch his mother’s eye. She was sitting in the bleachers, as she always did, game after game. And he was sitting on the bench, as he always did, game after game. The season was almost over, and he still hadn’t cracked the starting lineup.
As they drove home, he said quietly, “You don’t have to come, Mom. The games are boring, and I just sit on the bench.”
She replied, “I don’t come because I love baseball; I come because I love you.”
Mothering is, after all, about love—whether it’s love for one’s own child or for someone who simply needs love. So mothers attend baseball games even when their favorite player never leaves the bench. They stand at the back of auditoriums after rushing in from work, hoping to catch at least part of the program. They balance generosity with high standards, sharing your dreams but also feeling your worries. They have a bag of cookies in the cupboard to fix almost anything from skinned knees to the drama of mean friends. When you outgrow cookies, they find new ways to express their love. But the underlying message is always the same: “I’m here for you.” “Hang in there.” “You can do this.” “I have faith in you.” “I love you.”
So we, in return, try to find ways to express our gratitude. That’s one reason we have Mother’s Day, though many mothers would just as soon not have a day that honors them. They hear all of the praise and wonder, “Who are they talking about?” But then, there they are, sitting in the bleachers, paying more attention to the discouraged player on the bench than to the action on the field.
The words of the beloved character Christopher Robin to Winnie the Pooh sound like those of a mother: “If ever there’s a tomorrow when we’re not together, there’s something you must remember. You’re braver than you believe and stronger than you seem and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we’re apart, I’ll always be with you.”1
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May 9, 2021
Broadcast Number 4,782
The Tabernacle Choir
Orchestra at Temple Square
Bells on Temple Square
Conductor
Mack Wilberg
LeAnna Willmore
Organist
Brian Mathias
Host
Lloyd Newell
All Things Bright and Beautiful
John Rutter
My Mother’s Love
Janice Kapp Perry; arr. Nathan Hofheins
Jesus Loves Me
William B. Bradbury; arr. Brian Mathias
Canticle
Matthew Compton
Home is a Special Kind of Feeling, from The Wind in the Willows
John Rutter
Fill the World with Love, from Goodbye, Mr. Chips
Leslie Bricusse; arr. Mack Wilberg