Choir Notes

The Title of Mother
From Music and the Spoken Word
Delivered By: Lloyd D. Newell • Program 4156

Mother Teresa, known the world over for her great compassion, was once asked what she considered the most significant honor she had ever received. There were many to choose from, including the Nobel Peace Prize. But she surprised her questioner when she replied, “The title of Mother."1

No two mothers are alike, but they share common purpose, whether they are mothering their own or stepping in, like Mother Teresa, with just the right touch or tutoring for someone they love. Mothers aren’t perfect; indeed, they readily admit they are learning on the job—one that calls for wisdom, sacrifice, patience, love, and the willingness to lift others’ burdens as well as their own.

Jane James was a mother who in 1856 journeyed with her family in a handcart company across a vast wilderness. Early blizzards created desperate conditions, but Jane did not let her family become desperate.

One bitter morning, Jane’s husband succumbed to the cold and exhaustion, leaving Jane to care for the children alone. “I can see my mother’s face,” her daughter Sarah wrote years later. “Her eyes looked so dead that I was afraid. She didn’t sit long, however, for my mother was never one to cry. When it was time to move out, mother had her family ready to go. She put her invalid son in the cart with her baby, and we joined the train. Our mother was a strong woman, and she would see us through anything."2 Nourished by their mother’s courage, the young family found the faith to carry on until the end of their journey.

Mothers are like that. They see us through the dark days—and the bright ones as well. Mother Teresa devoted herself to the poorest of the poor; Sarah’s mother mustered the strength to lead her family on. May we, as did these two, honor the title of mother.

1 See Mother Teresa—Greatest of All Mothers.

2 In Carol Cornwall Madsen, Journey to Zion: Voices from the Mormon Trail (1997), 630.