"One cannot degrade
marriage without tarnishing other words as well, such words as boy, girl,
manhood, womanhood, husband, wife, father, mother, baby, children, family,
home."
Boyd K Packer
Good people trying not to offend are adding to the break down of the family. It ends up being part of the push to remove the importance of mothers and fathers. It fits so well into the idea that mothers and fathers are not important and are not needed.
I contemplated skipping church this Mother's Day. I probably won't, but I am sure I will go home with unpleasant feelings.
Our ward has never done much for Mother's Day. Last year was the worst. The topic of mother's didn't even come up. The best we got last year was a "Happy Woman's Day" after some boring talks about something that had nothing to do with family. I have heard tons of complaints over the talks about super moms or someone's wonderful mother that other mother's couldn't possibly measure up to, but at least they recognized that mothers and motherhood exists and is something to be celebrated.
Our ward has never done much for Mother's Day. Last year was the worst. The topic of mother's didn't even come up. The best we got last year was a "Happy Woman's Day" after some boring talks about something that had nothing to do with family. I have heard tons of complaints over the talks about super moms or someone's wonderful mother that other mother's couldn't possibly measure up to, but at least they recognized that mothers and motherhood exists and is something to be celebrated.
I'm tired of the complaints, the criticism, and the offense
surrounding motherhood and fatherhood. I'm tired of hearing how Mother's Day is painful because one mother doesn't feel like she is good enough, or another person feels like she had a terrible mother or that it's sad because some people want desperately to be a mother and haven't had that opportunity.
I am tired of hearing how hard it is to be a mother-- how difficult our children are-- how we just need a break from motherhood. I am tired of the sarcastic or angry responses given to mothers with three or more children.
And then to go to Church on Mother's Day and to have no mention of motherhood-- no celebration of mothers, as if the day does not exist or that the Church has no interest in mothers.
But you know what? Motherhood is bigger than someone's feelings, and it is not a competition. Motherhood is much, much more than what we see in mortality, and the Church does have an interest in motherhood-- an exalted and eternal interest. We are all here on Earth contemplating mothers today because we all have a Heavenly Mother who brought life to our Spirits. We are all here on Earth contemplating mothers today because we all have a mortal mother who sacrificed to provide a body for our spirit. And if a woman accepts God's plan of happiness, there are two rewards she will have and that is wife and mother for eternity. It does not matter if she is married during her mortal life. It does not matter if she had children during her mortal life. Every woman that desires it will have a husband and will have children without number in the Eternities. And that is something to celebrate. Honoring motherhood is honoring God. Denying the divinity of motherhood is denying one of God's greatest gifts and crowning blessings.
So last year my ward did not celebrate Mother's Day at Church because we didn't want to offend anyone. Some schools have stopped mentioning Mother's Day because some households do not include a mother. Soon all schools will stop mentioning Mother's Day and Father's Day. It will probably become illegal for a school to do so. Many places have already removed the word "mother" and "father" from birth certificates. Most marriage certificate's don't say "husband" and "wife" anymore. I have no doubt that there will be no Mother's Day at all because someone somewhere is offended for some reason. And even at Church, we are losing sight of the importance and necessity of mother.
