SPEAKER_00 0:01

Okay, the mic isn't super comfortable, but there are a lot of people. Bridget stole my thunder. I really was gonna get up and say, I was a little surprised that Bridget kept insisting that I teach, despite my son being in the hospital for two weeks, but I guess he did come home yesterday, so she probably thought it was okay, but um I really did um insist. I mean she probably sent me 15 texts. Okay, you're not teaching anymore. Okay, you're not teaching anymore. Um but the truth is amidst the um, and there's no tissues here. I know I'm gonna need tissues. Thank you. Um amidst the incredible heart hardships and sadness of the last two weeks, and I can't even describe um what our family's been through. Um the opportunity to find, thank you, morning, um the opportunity to find greater meaning in my suffering, thank you. Um and remember that as daughter, as a daughter of heavenly parents and someone who holds tight to my covenants that he will attend me with power, the chance to focus on that was really important. So I don't know how many of you know the history of Mother's Day. Um I had mixed feelings about Mother's Day for a long time, having experienced infertility, it was just it was sometimes a hard day. Then when I became a mom, it was like I'm a terrible mom, and I just wasn't sure what to think about it. Um so just a little history, because I think it's interesting. Ann Reese Jarvis, a mother of the 13, um, poor only who survived to adulthood, um, before the Civil War started Mother's Day clubs to combat diseases that took the lives of children and later care for wounded soldiers after the Civil War. Then they started Mother's Day friendship picnics where mothers and soldiers from both sides would come together with the person on the opposite side and share a meal and try to have some healing and reconciliation. Um this was the example that a woman saw in her mom the power of women to heal communities and their civic duty to promote life and protect peace. When she passed away, her daughter Anna Maria Jarvis said, I'm gonna choose the second Sunday to honor my mom and the work of these women, because it was close to the date that her mom passed away. Um years down the road in 1914, President Wilson denoted it as Mother's Day, and um so this original source of what Mother's Day was quickly turned into what we may be feeling comfortable with, which is a couple things. Um it turned to a commercialized pedalization of women, so buy things for women, make them you know, say that they're perfect, and it just feels uncomfortable. Um, and interestingly, the woman who pushed to honor her mom fought back for the rest of her life against the commercialization of Mother's Day because she knew that the original purpose of this day was to empower women to know of the huge difference they make in people's lives. Um, and just the reframing was uncomfortable for her. Um, it was shifted from what she saw as a holy day to a business venture. In fact, she called the manufacturers, uh, the candy manufacturers and the flower companies trade vandals. So she had very strong feelings about what this day should be and what it shouldn't be. Um I love this quote from President Hinckley when he said, I have often thought that if great numbers of women of all nations were to unite and lift their voices in the cause of peace, there would develop a worldwide will for peace which could save our civilization and untold suffering, misery, plague, starvation, and the death of millions. Um, too often I feel like we see in women's history a pattern. And this pattern is this something that was meant to empower women, to help them understand who they really are, to tie into their divine worth is left denigrated. Which leaves women instead of feeling empowered and a recognition of their divine authority, it leaves them feeling questioning their worth, losing a sense of strength. So today, no matter where you're at, I want you to try to reframe what this state is and what it means. Um, nobody's perfect, right? But I believe the efforts that you make are absolutely inspired by God. And I want you to embrace your role as healers in your community, promoters of peace, and shift from self-doubt to empowerment. As we discuss three things today, I want you to keep this question in your mind. Why historically and today do women see messages that readily contradict our true nature, our strength, and our divinity and power as daughters of heavenly parents? Why? So let's turn to Genesis 3.20. If someone could open that up. This is the first time in the scriptures when we are going to hear the word mother. So if someone has that, Genesis 3.20. Yes, Krista.

unknown 5:44

And Adam called his wife's name Eve because he was the mother of all living.

SPEAKER_00 5:50

So Adam calls his wife's name Eve because she was the mother of all living. Clarify, in Moses 4.26, it also says, Thus have I, the Lord God, called the first of all women, which are many. So in Hebrew, I'm I'm a you all know I'm a nerd. I'm saying I'm a bit of nerd. I am a nerd. Um, and I really like looking at the history of words, especially in Hebrew, there's so much meaning. Um the Hebrew word for Eve is Haba, which means to live, life giver, or to breathe. Um, it's divide, it's derived from the word hai, which is life. Um, interestingly, as has been pointed out many times, Eve's title was given to her before she ever bore children. So it's a divine title given to all women. Whereas women denotes a gender, mother denotes a title of purpose. Um, and as was quoted today in the talk, I'll just reiterate this. This is by Sherry Doo. While we tend to equate motherhood solely with maternity in the Lord's language, the word mother has layers of meaning. Motherhood is more than bearing children, though it is certainly that. It is the essence of who we are as women. It defines our identity, our divine nature, and the unique traits our father gave to us. So that title of mother is more than just saying a woman who has born a child. It is a divine title that should imbue us with power. Um, obviously, Eve is known for her brave act of courage in the Garden of Eden. She propelled us forward in the process of the fall and led us ultimately to the ultimate life giver, which is the Savior. Now, how has Eve been treated throughout history? Anyone want to share maybe some things they've heard? I just got a thumbs down up here. Okay. Interestingly, though we know from our perspective and gospel truths, Eve was absolutely wise and courageous in her act to move forward. That is not how Eve is often perceived. It's misunderstood that her contribution to history was negative, that she was foolish, and that perhaps we should have regretted, she should have regretted her action. Again, an opportunity, a seminal opportunity in the history of the world where a woman acted and absolutely should be embraced with the divine action that she took, and yet it has been used throughout history to perhaps limit women's roles. I love the idea that Eve means to breathe life. Um breath is what allow things to live, it infuses life to everything around us, it gives resilience to living things. It's interesting to think about our heritage as a daughter of Eve, that we also have the ability to breathe life to those things around us. We live in a world today where I don't think this idea of breathing life is what we see often. And it's certainly not the role that is presented as what women do in society. Oftentimes women are viewed as selfish, attention-seeking, um, all sorts of things that point inward and lead us to seek validation from areas that are never going to validate us. So I want you to think about conversations you've had with a group of women when perhaps you can think of a woman who has breathed life into that conversation. We've all had conversations. It could have been a conversation, perhaps, where there was a lot of negativity, there was a lot of questioning, a lot of, you know, just maybe bad feelings, talking about someone, um, just complaining. What does it look like when you've been in those conversations and there's a woman who breathes life into that? And I would welcome hands raised and answered. What does it look like? Yeah. When I've been in situations where, and maybe it's really obvious that someone has fallen short, they've dropped the ball, they've done something, and someone breathes life into that conversation by saying, I think she's going through a really hard time, or I think she did the best that she could with what was there. So I want you to think about this idea that this idea of motherhood, which again is not just a woman who has born a child, but a title that we have as women and covenant women of God. How are we breathing life into conversations, into our family? How are we doing that online? Because that is where a lot of interactions are happening nowadays. Um, I know this is uncomfortable, but I want you to think about a time when you did that for someone, when you showed up for your kids or someone else, when you decided that you were going to bring light and life into a conversation. Um, I'm the first to admit I have many, many flaws. Um, but I know when I've taken the time to ask the Lord, having done any good in the world today, he's helped me to know that that has happened.

unknown 12:55

Yeah.

SPEAKER_08 12:56

I was just thinking Edgar, I thought that as my husband's grandma, and maybe somebody met her before one yeah what's her name. Anyways, it's lustry that she's not gonna. Anyways, one time in the car we were driving, there was a play in that on TV picture on the TV. And the car is happening.

SPEAKER_00 13:45

So culturally, women today are often viewed um by what our bodies look like, by how much attention we can get onto ourselves. Um and I can promise you, anytime I have fallen into um seeking that feedback from those worldly sources, it's insatiable, right? It's insatiable. Um you know, you can be exactly what the world thinks you should be right now today, and you are not going to be it tomorrow. It's just not possible. Um, especially for the young women, um be very careful about the sources you seek to fill your identity and a sense of who you are. And because you are covenant women and young women of God, you have the opportunity to enter conversations, to show up in places and breathe life and light into them in ways that are absolutely needed in our world. There is a lot of despair, there is a lot of confusion, and you can absolutely show up and be a changing force in those situations. So, again, think to yourself why historically would someone like Eve be maligned or shown in a different way than we understand? And what do we need to do about that? Um I distinctly remember being uh I was studying abroad in Jerusalem and I was in the library and I was having a tough time, and I was going through and just like, what are some major talks in the last 15 years from general conference I might want to read? I was scrolling through and I came across a talk and it just stopped me. Um 1979 by President Kimball called The Righteous Role of Women. Um for whatever reason, and it's not because my mom is here today, she's amazing. It's not because I don't know, my parents talked to me about these things. I was just came out of the womb inherently sensitive to how women are portrayed, the language we use to talk about them, and the absolute strength and potential for women in the world. So you can ask our current bishop, you can ask past bishops how many times I have sent texts that have said, please don't thank the priesthood for passing the sacrament. And I remember being at Ward Council one time, and two of you who were in that room, um I said, Hey, can we make sure that we don't say that because it's not the right language? We say we're grateful for the priesthood holders who have passed the sacrament, but we don't thank the priesthood because women have access to priesthood power. And I remember when Bishop said, You have a problem with that? And I was like, I have a problem because it's wrong. I think the prophet said at the next general conference, and I know it's nitpicky, and bless his heart, Justin Cox. Is Stacy in here? Where's Stacy? Oh my gosh. Justin will just text me and be like, they did it wrong again. I love being a woman so much and being a daughter of God, and as a mom to a daughter, I want her to understand who she is and what her connection to God is. So, for whatever reason, I've always been really sensitive. When I read this talk, it absolutely spoke to my heart. There's a few nuggets of truth, so let's discuss some of these. Um, President Kimball said, the eternal blessings which are yours through membership in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are far, far greater than any other blessings you could possibly receive. No greater recognition can come to you in this world than to be known as a daughter of God. So at that time when I was making career decisions and dating decisions, I felt like I had to figure out where that identity fit into anything else. And that's when this quote came up in this talk. This was a prophecy made in 1979, which we are seeing fulfilled today. Much of the major growth that is coming to the church in these last days will come because of the many good women in the world in whom there is often an inner sense of spirituality that will be drawn to the church in large numbers. This will happen to the degree that the women of the church reflect righteousness and articulateness in their lives and the degree to which women of the church are seen as distinct and different in happy ways from the women of the world. I remember sitting in that library and thinking, I don't know what my future holds, but I really want to try to be righteous. I really want when people to look at me to know that I have a relationship with God. I really want to be articulate. Meaning, if someone asks, why do you do what you do? It's not because time has passed and I just went to church because my parents took me. I want to be able to say, I do this because I believe this is true. Now being distinct and different in happy ways, especially when you're a teenager, you distinct and different is never the goal, right? You just kind of want to fit in. But as a 20-year-old, I thought, I really do want to be distinct and different in happy ways. So being distinct and different can just be like you're different and you're weird, right? Or you're different and we sure don't want to be like you. I want you to think about women in our faith. What makes them distinct and different in happy ways? So just real loud, throw it out there.

SPEAKER_01 20:06

I think cherishing our role as mothers, you know, sometimes in society, if you say just a role, you're looking down upon. I don't feel that way. I feel it's an important role, it's essential, and I don't feel like I'm blessed, you know, because I'm just a woman. You know what I mean?

SPEAKER_00 20:25

Yeah, yeah. I mean, I think we absolutely say, I'm a mom and I know it's important. And that confidence when you present that stops people. That's that's great. Any other ways? Well, how are we distinct and different? Yeah. I've been in professional settings, and people will ask me, well, you know, why are you supporting this? Why do you believe this? And I love coming back confidently and saying, Well, I have a relationship with God, and that has led me to really want to focus on this. And it's distinct and it's different. And again, people they may or may not agree, they may or may not be religious, but they reflect, they respect the fact that it's important to me, and I'm living that way.

unknown 21:37

I just have to say I have quite a few friends that are not everywhere, and they are thinking of different things.

SPEAKER_04 21:44

They're wonderful. And they they bring things to the table that I don't have. And I I think there are so many women that are. That has those, I think those women can build the spirit to be directed.

SPEAKER_00 22:06

I 100% agree. Um, as my parents joined the church, so we don't have extended family in the church, we have amazing women in my extended family. It's not that we're distinct and different and completely unique, but I think it's a charge as members of our faith to recognize that we have the opportunity to display that being distinct and different based on the truths that we have. Yeah.

SPEAKER_06 22:34

I think I love just come seeing women of faith, and that to see the different comment that Mr. said, but one of the things that I'm inspired by most of the time in church, you know, some of us are sort of so we always differentiate, but there is this um strike. Like I was walking with Britain the other day and she showed me how she like uh makes notes on church and that she loves our black and you know. I don't really think like no one will know she does that problem that they happen to use. Like, I I love that being different and that's all over the board where you know, I'll talk to somebody learning in a way that don't get happy. I'm happy about the mother, or I'll have our child cry about something hard, or you know, you and I can cry about something bad. You know, it's just that's the thing different. That matters so much to be a person who's trying to be a mother, and there's no metaphor. There's no more, and your house looks even old like it when you started with amazing thing. So I think that's what's different. Women all over the world, do you are mothers or not? We can keep holding things together because they care. And God gives them the strength of care and he keeps giving it to us, and so that's what makes life better.

SPEAKER_00 23:52

I think there's such a cultural tide that is that often pushes women to again seek um acceptance in places that we're never gonna find true acceptance. And so kind of not shunning that world, although I'm I've never been cool, I've never dressed great. I mean, it's just not anything I'm I'm not in the running to be like an Instagram influencer at any point in time. Um but I also am very careful about where I want to place my work, um, and there's just so many companies and so many algorithms that are trying to tell you to seek it in a place that isn't going to work. Do we have someone else over here? No. Um, a couple examples that um stuck out to me. Um, Stella Harris Oaks is just, I think, an amazing woman. So our prophet's mom. Um, if you've read his biography or know anything about her, her husband passed away um right because he was beginning his medical practice, so she was a single mom. At that point, she decided I really feel inspired to get an education. So they lived in Idaho. She got accepted to a graduate program at Columbia University, which I'm kind of like, wow, that's crazy. So she said to the rest of her family, Can you take care of my kids? I'm going to go get further education in New York. And she did that for a while, and then she actually had kind of a mental breakdown. She felt like this isn't the right thing at the right time, and she dropped out. Felt like a little bit of a failure, and then she decided, no, this is what the Lord wants me to do. She took some time off, went back, completed her education. She went on, moved back to Utah. She was on the city council approval for a long time. She started off, she started a fund to help single moms go through college. She was an amazing woman. Um to me, she was very distinct and different because she knew and inquired for the Lord what does he want me to do, and she did it. Um a new friend of mine, who we're gonna watch a clip later, is Emily Pack. I don't know if any of you, Katie's heard me. I'm always sharing clips. She's this little singer songwriter in Mesa, and she does the funniest little clips. Um, if you've seen her, you've seen her, Monica, it's great. We we found her because she did a whole cute song on the man with the mustache in the choir and begging him not to shave his mustache. So if you've seen that clip, um, she is just a joy. She uh, if you listen to the All-In podcast, Everissa has wrote the book, she was on it last week. She talked about being a woman of God, being positive. Um, there's just great examples. So, again, um historically, the goal for women is to fit in, right? You need to have the latest clothes, you need to say the right words, you need to have the right hair, and yet we're being called to be distinct and different. So, how are those two messages coming up? Um, the last thing I'm going to talk about is becoming the woman we want to be. Um there's definitely been times in my life where I brief moments where I think I am exactly the person that I want to be. I just did something or I'm feeling something where like who I am, who I really am, is aligning with what I just did or who I am in this moment. And they're brief, they're not often. Um I um often struggle with self-doubt and questioning, am I doing enough? Um, certainly mothering um my specific mothering situation often leads me to wonder if I'm doing enough. And the answer is I'm 100% never meeting the needs of my kids. Um, even if I just had typical kids, I couldn't do that. But with Matthew, there's never enough therapies, there's never enough time, there's never enough more that I could not be doing to help him. Um and in our current situation, umother, it looks like perhaps him not being in our home. Um again, the self-doubt comes in, and I think, am I the woman that God needs me to be right now? Yet when I think back to those moments when I feel like I am who I need to be, most often that aligns with me making an effort to draw on the powers of heaven, receive priesthood power in my life, and act confidently. Now, I don't always do that. I might have a stressful situation and suit myself on hulu instead of turning to the scriptures or attending the temple. But I can tell you when I have done those things in those small moments, I feel more me than I ever feel any other time. And I hope you know what I'm talking about. Those moments when you say, This is who I want to be. This is how I want to feel. So, how do we access that? Um, President Nelson said, We need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith. Um, when I was visiting Israel a couple years ago with John, um they newly discovered architectural, not architectural. My brain isn't working. What's it called? Archaeological, thank you. Um discoveries in a place called Magdala, which is where Mary Magdalene is from. They have a painting, and I'm not gonna lie to you here, it is from here to here. It is the largest painting I've ever seen in person, and it is this painting, which I don't know if you can see, but there is a hand reaching out with a bright light and a hem of the savior's robe. That woman was hurting. She felt alone, she felt distressed, she didn't feel like she could be who she needed to be, and the source she went to was the savior. We need women who know how to make important things happen by their faith. Being a daughter of God who makes covenants with him gives you a divine responsibility in this world, but it also comes with divine help. I'm often struck saying, Well, what's my divine responsibility? I have too many things going on, and I'm not quite sure how to get that help. I want to read a couple quotes by President Nelson, and then I'm gonna get some examples from you. How do I draw on the Savior's power in my life? You won't find this process spelled out in any manual. The Holy Ghost will be your personal tutor as you seek to understand what the Lord would have you know and do. This process is neither quick nor easy, but it is spiritually invigorating. What could possibly be more exciting than to labor with the Spirit to understand God's power? Part of this endeavor will require you to put aside many things of this world. Perhaps sometimes we speak almost casually about walking away from the world with its contention, persuasive temptations, and false philosophies. But truly doing so, truly doing so, requires you to examine your life meticulously and regularly. As you do so, the Holy Ghost will prompt you about what is no longer needed, what is no longer worthy of your time and effort. Most certainly the adversary does not want you to understand that the covenant you made at baptism or the profound endowment of knowledge and power you have received in the temple and the house of the Lord. And Satan certainly does not want you to understand that every time you worthily serve and worship in the temple, you leave armed with God's power and with his angels having charge over you. The simple things, saying our prayers, reading the scriptures, going to the temple, calling a friend who might be in need, they are indeed simple things, and yet sometimes when we do them, they become magnifying things. They introduce us to ourselves in ways that when we scurry around and check off to-do lists, we never find ourselves at the end of the day. What are you women doing to feel more like who you really were meant to be?

SPEAKER_01 33:41

I feel like something that the Spirit has taught me in recent months is to do daily operations and specific things that the Lord wants me to remember every day. One of them means that I'm a child of God. You know, I think we all will always feel that there's a gap between where we are and where we want to be, you know. Um but I know that I'm on the path. You know what I mean? And that gives me hope and comfort even when I may not be quite where I want to be yet. Um and I've just experienced so much that the adversary really humbles us in our vulnerable moments and makes us feel like we're not enough whenever things are really, really hard. And so we have to remember who we are and how much he loves us. And we're doing so much better than we often think we are from our perspective.

SPEAKER_00 34:48

Yeah, I love that idea of daily affirmations. Um sometimes we might not hear it from a partner or a child. I feel like my dog gives me daily affirmations, I'm for one person. I come home and I'm like, Milo, you love me so much. Um but having those regular practices can be really, really helpful. Yeah.

SPEAKER_07 35:16

Understanding the power of my choices and using Daphne of Hulu and your scriptures. And I've tried just recently, I had a birthday a week ago, and this week I was just like, you know, I'm dialing in.

unknown 35:28

I'm just really locking in to become the best person with me.

SPEAKER_07 35:32

And that means that when the choice comes to my mind, hey, I have 25 minutes so I can sit and um on something, or am I gonna try myself to go walk and listen to the podcast? And this week I've done really, really good work, and I'll tell you that I can felt with me, my soul and my spirit, I become the person that I want to be, and it's really just understanding that's how we're going to be really hard.

SPEAKER_06 36:07

I put the working girl. And when we talk about our team, she works super hard, she does extract all that stuff has to be off. So she does everything right. And she's off, and she's like, and I'm telling her to get out of her head negative, she comes to me with tears saying, I can't stop it. I can't stop the negative. And I think, and I remember telling her, you do the work, you're allowed to have a moment. And God's gonna bless you. You can let it go. And I think like you, that's the first step so often is don't get yourself a negative or don't, you know, whatever, like you feel like that's not and not letting it go, and I'm choosing that. That's the first choice I made in my mind that um, I just can't tell you. And then your voice is that like all the time, trying to be good. And it's so empowering to be here. Where do I go? I can bring my life and to be like, yeah, guess what? I turn you on. You're you're all your days I have to hear my voice in your head right now, and it is telling you it is hard to do. So I think that's what we do for each other, right? You're having someone.

SPEAKER_00 37:21

We all have those bad days, yeah.

SPEAKER_05 37:24

I think we just my husband and I just went to see a movie. It's called The Story of Everything. That's how it's in select the years, but it's all about kind of the science, the science behind creation. So it's fantastic. I loved it. But the part that really spoke to me in the documentary was it talks about how the earth is not only created in a way that will sustain life, but it's given us an abundance of it. It doesn't just sustain what we need or what we have beauty all around us, and it has kind of a video montage of you know, majestic mountains and sunset over the beach, and you know, hiking trails, and it has a mother with her baby, you know, her baby around her finger. I mean, it just is an abundance of beauty. And I was thinking to myself, the simple beauties of our life is what I try to celebrate. It's like when we're all around the dinner table, all enjoying our homework art jokes, or if uh my kids and my husband are doing a silly dance in the kitchen together just to give me a laugh, or when this year for my birthday, we're all singing happy birthday, and we added a cake for my twin sister so we can celebrate her too. It's like the beauty of every day needs to be cherished and celebrated. It doesn't have to be majestic, but as women, we can celebrate and show those beauties to everyone around us and celebrate with each other.

SPEAKER_00 38:55

Women, we have an eye for beauty, I would say. Um we don't have much time, just a couple more things. Um, I will be the first to admit when the new young women classmates came out. I enjoyed a lot of memes, a lot of memes about them. Um this idea of being distinct and different in happy ways. I was like, I think this might just be distinct and different in really weird ways. And then this cute friend, Emily, released this video. Um, as you listen to this, I want to remind you that one way you can recognize that you are growing closer to the Savior and closer to our heavenly parents is that you are recognizing more of who you were truly meant to be. You feel that sense of peace. You don't feel a yearning for a validation from other people. You feel that inner sense of I did what I needed to do today, and it wasn't perfect, but I know I'm trying. So let me play this for you.

SPEAKER_03 41:06

Oh, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 42:26

Knowing that as a mother, a title that was given to us by God about our divine heritage, our divine rights, our divine purpose, will imbue in you not just a sense of responsibility, but a recognition that you have unique roles to play in the relationships you are in with your families, in work, in the community, that you can breathe light and life into things around you. When we've gone through these examples, God has told us over and over who we are. We receive messages that contradict that. Why? Let me just finish with a quote. Um I shared you. As mothers in Israel, we are the Lord's secret leaven. Our influence comes from a divine endowment that has been in place from the beginning in the pre-moral world when our father described our role. I wonder if we didn't stand in wide-eyed wonder that he would bless us with the sacred trust so central to his plan, and that he would endow us with gifts so vital to the loving and weeding of his children. I wonder if we shouted for joy, at least in part, because of the ennobling stature he gave us in his kingdom. The world won't tell you that, but the spirit will. world and how you are committed to make a difference. This Mother's Day isn't just about these wonderful women that have raised us, but it's an opportunity to us to reflect on our power in today's society. And I say that in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.