Mothers Day Talk May 2012 Hello everyone, my name is Kaleb Erickson.

I think I know most of you here, but Ive been gone for the last six months or so because I was attending BYU in Provo. In my ward there, I was the ward music director and I was in charge of all of the music and playing the piano every Sunday. Im not sure if it was because of that or some other reason, but in the two semesters I was at BYU, I was never once asked to speak in Sacrament meeting. When I came back to Simi, I thought maybe I could keep up that tradition. Make myself seem really busy so theyll feel bad about asking me to speak. Apparently that didnt work because Brother Darley snagged me after only two weeks. Hes that good I guess.

Well anyways, seeing as today is Mothers Day, I was asked to speak on a topic that is very dear to my heart. I have received many wonderful blessings in my almost 19 years on this earth, but I would say that I have no greater blessing in my life than a wonderful mother to love and support me.

About three years ago, I was asked to give a talk on this same topic. I was a sophomore in high school then, and I had just finished this huge project in my English class. It involved a lot of scrapbooking and decorating things that I, quite frankly, was not up for at the time. My wonderful mother, on the other hand, has this awesome creative talent. She helped me put the book together and decorate it all and I managed to get an A on the project. I remember talking about this project and thanking the Lord for blessing me with such a great mom to help me on this project.

Fast forward two years and now Im headed off to BYU to live on my own. Now, when I get a project, I cant exactly take it to Mom and have her help me with it. My original plan was to just not take classes that required artistic projects. Unfortunately that didnt quite work out. Suddenly I was required to build a Roman-style arch out of a cereal box for one of my classes. I thought I was doomed to failure here without my mother to help me be artistic. I realized that this was not the case however. I remembered the go-to mothers day scripture in Alma. Its when Moroni is about to take the stripling warriors into battle. Moroni writes, They never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them

The key here is that their mothers had taught them. Even though I didnt have my mother here to help me with the project, I had learned some of her techniques from all

of the projects she had helped me on in the past. My mother had taught me to be artistic on my own, so that when this day would come, I would be alright without her help. I didnt get a perfect grade on the project, but I still pulled off an A-, so I was happy with that.

Mothers have what I believe to be the most important calling on earth. Their job is to raise their children so they are prepared, mentally, physically, and spiritually to enter the real world and live on their own. The mothers of the stripling warriors are a magnificent example of that. These young men were not afraid of battle because their mothers had taught them to have faith in God. Proverbs 1:8 says My son forsake not the law of thy mother.

I know that sometimes Mothers day can be a painful time. The problem with teenagers is that they have this darn thing called agency. Sometimes, no matter how good of a parent you are, you can teach your children correctly, love them, and nurture them, but your children will always have their agency to choose their path in life. I heartily wish that all children would do as their mothers teach them, but no mother should beat herself up over a child that strayed from the path, because there is nothing you can do about it.

I feel like sometimes the Bible is reminiscent of a Disney movie. All we ever hear about are the fathers and the children. Mothers tend to always get the short end of the stick in both Disney movies and the Bible. This isnt to say that we dont ever hear about mothers in the bible. Some of the most incredible stories are about mothers like Sarahwho received the strength to bear a child at the age of about 90, then had enough faith to allow her husband to take this son to be sacrificed. Or Hannah, who humbly prayed to the Lord with such faith that she was blessed to give birth to Samuel, who then went on to become one of the most famous prophets in Israels history. Or the maybe a little obscure Jochebed. She was the mother of Moses, who loved her son enough to put him in a basket floating down the Nile in order to protect him from the Pharaoh. I have a theory that the other stories about mothers in the bible had to be removed because they were so amazing that they outshined the men in the Bible. Regardless, what matters here is that mothers are vital to Heavenly Fathers plan because they raise their children in righteousness to prepare them for the future, not only in this life, but in the next life as well.

Now this next part is for all of the teenagers out there. I know youre out in the audience doing various things that involve not paying attention, but hear me out for just a

moment. Talking from a teenagers point of view, I can understand why you might be mad at your mom for some rule that you dont agree with or a punishment that you think is too strict. Ive been through these same situations. Youre not the only kid with parents who have rules and punishments. And these are no reason to feel anger to your mom or dad. Theres a scripture in Proverbs 15:10 that says, It is a foolish child that despiseth his mother. Whenever I find myself frustrated with my mother, I have to remind myself that she is only doing these things because she loves me and wants the best for me. Even though it might seem like she just wants you to have a horrible weekend while youre grounded, she is doing this so that you wont make the same mistakes in the future. Trust me when I say that your mom really does love you and wants the best for you.

My sister, Tina, has two little boys, ages 3 and 1. Last week I drove out to her house to help entertain her kids and visit with her for a bit. Once they went down for a nap, we started talking about life and various things. She talked a bit about how much work goes into raising these two kids. She said something that I really liked. She said You can never understand true selflessness until youve raised children of your own. As I thought about this, I realized how much work Tina puts into raising these two boys. Teaching them, feeding them, playing with them, comforting them; everything my sister does in her life revolves around her two sons. It is the epitome of selflessness to be a mother and raise a child.

It reminds me of a poem written by Billy Collins called The Lanyard. The other day I was ricocheting slowly off the blue walls of this room, moving as if underwater from typewriter to piano, from bookshelf to an envelope lying on the floor, when I found myself in the L section of the dictionary where my eyes fell upon the word lanyard. No cookie nibbled by a French novelist could send one into the past more suddenly a past where I sat at a workbench at a camp by a deep Adirondack lake learning how to braid long thin plastic strips into a lanyard, a gift for my mother. I had never seen anyone use a lanyard or wear one, if thats what you did with them, but that did not keep me from crossing strand over strand again and again

until I had made a boxy red and white lanyard for my mother. She gave me life and milk from her breasts, and I gave her a lanyard. She nursed me in many a sick room, lifted spoons of medicine to my lips, laid cold face-cloths on my forehead, and then led me out into the airy light and taught me to walk and swim, and I, in turn, presented her with a lanyard. Here are thousands of meals, she said, and here is clothing and a good education. And here is your lanyard, I replied, which I made with a little help from a counselor. Here is a breathing body and a beating heart, strong legs, bones and teeth, and two clear eyes to read the world, she whispered, and here, I said, is the lanyard I made at camp. And here, I wish to say to her now, is a smaller giftnot the worn truth that you can never repay your mother, but the rueful admission that when she took the two-tone lanyard from my hand, I was as sure as a boy could be that this useless, worthless thing I wove out of boredom would be enough to make us even.

I will probably never understand all that my mother has given me throughout my life. She has dedicated her life to selflessly raising myself and my other siblings so that we could live happy and righteous lives. I want to end with a quote from the rapper Tupac Shakur. He wrote a song for his mother called Dear Mama where he says, There is no way I can pay you back, But the plan is to show you that I understand, You are appreciated.

I just want to thank all the mothers out there for all you do. Whether your hard work is noticed or not, you are appreciated.