You, as a woman, are created in the image of God. We don't know much about Heavenly Mother, so I won't speculate here, but we do know that we are created in the image of our heavenly parents.
Through the act of motherhood, you can become more like them. I believe there are three spiritual gifts you can gain to be more like your Heavenly Parents.
What does that mean?
We are made up of our mind, body, and spirit. If we are created in the image of God, we inherit characteristics of Deity in all three of these areas. Our Heavenly Parents, like we, as earthly parents, pass our qualities onto our progeny. Imagine these three aspects as a three-circle Venn diagram. Mind, body, Spirit. And where the three circles overlap are the spiritual gifts of compassion discernment and intuition which we will talk about in just a moment
We are made in their image. We should not project our image onto them. We should recognize that they are perfect, and any projections we have that do not adhere to that perfection is a weakness and lack of imagination on our part. I hope you’ll forgive my own inadequacies in understanding the true nature of God, as I am still learning myself.
Leviticus 19:2 says, "Ye shall be holy: for I the Lord your God am holy." Not only can we be like them, but we are *commanded* to be like them. It’s hard, though, because we are so imperfect, we may even think it is impossible to ever attain their level of perfection.
To understand the idea of Mind, Body, and Spirit, I’ll just say a few things: 1. Your mind, body, and spirit are naturally fallen, but are still in the image of God. 2. We have a veil that prevents us from seeing all that our heavenly parents are and all that we can be by extension. 3. We are imperfect, but our heavenly parents are perfect, and we are commanded by Christ to be perfect, even as our father in heaven is perfect (Matt. 5) 4. Your being here on this earth, at this time, with the challenges and weaknesses that exist in your life, is exactly in accordance with the plan you set with your Father in Heaven before you came to earth.
So, if life is hard, it is as expected. If something is not how you would like it, it is as expected.
To illustrate, I’d like you to look back and examine your life, briefly. You made some bad choices and some good choices. Sometimes, you’re still experiencing the consequences of those bad choices. Sometimes, you’re still still experiencing the consequences of those good choices as well. In hindsight, had you made other choices, you would not be the person you are today. Because God is eternal and omniscient, He can see your life as a whole. Every experience is valuable, even if every experience is not enjoyable.
Joseph Smith said of this not every experience being enjoyable: “I am like a huge, rough stone rolling down from a high mountain; and the only polishing I get is when some corner gets rubbed off by coming in contact with something else, striking with accelerated force against religious bigotry, priestcraft, lawyer-craft, doctor-craft, lying editors, suborned judges and jurors, instagram influencers, pinterest moms, and the authority of perjured executives, backed by mobs, blasphemers, licentious and corrupt men and women--all hell knocking off a corner here and a corner there. Thus I will become a smooth and polished shaft in the quiver of the Almighty, who will give me dominion over all and every one of them when their refuge of lies shall fail, and their hiding place shall be destroyed, while these smooth-polished stones with which I come in contact become marred.”
A great way for you, as a mother, to become a polished shaft in the hand of the almighty is to seek after and develop some spiritual gifts. So, let's talk about those spiritual gifts in a little more detail.
The Gift of Compassion At the intersection of our mind and body is compassion. Because you are the offspring of God, you have compassion. You may also call this empathy, sympathy, or several other words that imply that your love for others fulfills the 2 great commandments spoken of by our Savior. We read in Matthew 22:37-40: > Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. > And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.
A very real issue that mothers face is that they sometimes love others more than themselves. They have negative self-talk, don't believe they are valuable, think they aren't good enough, and generally don't think much of themselves. This commandment to love thy neighbor as thyself, then, can sometimes be confusing.
Let me tell you, you are as good as you possibly can be right now. Every single day, you are doing the best that you can. Embrace that. Was your kid's face messy coming to church today? That's Ok. Were their clothes a little wrinkly? Totally fine.
Comparison is the destroyer of compassion. When you compare yourself you cannot be compassionate.
You are always doing the very best that you possibly can in the moment. And your best is acceptable before God. Maybe you're not happy with your weight, your looks, your financial situation. It's all OK. You are still a great daughter of God, and He loves you. And you are beautiful, because you are created in your heavenly mother's image. Are we all going to look identical in the celestial kingdom? I sure hope not!
Joseph Smith said of compassion at the founding of the relief society: ”You are now placed in a situation where you can act according to those sympathies which God has planted in your bosoms. If you live up to these principles how great and glorious!—if you live up to your privilege, the angels cannot be restrained from being your associates. … If you will be pure, nothing can hinder.” Joseph Smith
Nobody is expecting you to be perfect. We are expecting you to do your best and strive for perfection. That means that every day you are doing your best and you are striving tomorrow to be better.
The Gift of Intuition At the intersection of Spirit and Body is the Gift of Intuition. When we become members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we gain the gift of the Holy Ghost. But when you become a mother, you can also gain the gift of intuition. President Russell M. Nelson said, “You sisters possess distinctive capabilities and special intuition you have received as gifts from God.”
In the Topical Guide, intuition directs us to See Guidance, Divine; Inspiration; Revelation. We typically think of intuition as a gut feeling. Now, men and women can both have these, but mothers specifically have this gift. Many mothers have felt, that boy just isn’t right, or that event just isn’t right.
For example, when Staci was pregnant with Katya, she had a feeling the entire time that “something” was wrong. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew something wasn’t right. When the doctor pronounced that she suspected Down syndrome and ordered tests, where other mothers have melted down at this prognosis, Staci breathed a sigh of relief and said, “At least I finally know what it is.”
I had had similar feelings, but brushed them off as anxiety or nervousness about being a first-time dad.
Now, it’s important to not confuse this gift with anxiety, because they can feel similar. Anxiety is something you feel in your body, but intuition you can feel in your body and your spirit. Anxiety is not a gift of the spirit, but intuition is a gift of the spirit.
I’m reminded of an experience my mother had. It was about 1 am and my brother George was out with a friend. He had been pulled over by the cops and was waiting on the curb. Someone had called the police and my brother and his friend apparently were being held in connection with whatever had happened. Suddenly, out of nowhere, my mom pulled up told the police she was taking these boys home. My mom wasn’t often up at 1 am, but this night she knew she needed to be there for her son. My brother says of this experience, “There was no way mom could have known that we were there at that time without mother’s intuition. We didn’t have cell phones or GPS or find my friends. Mom wouldn’t have let me have a cell phone anyway. It was really awesome watching mom boss those cops around, though.”
I think that an experience from the scriptures that illustrates intuition is the story of Abish in the book of Mormon. In Alma 19, Ammon is preaching to the king and his court. Everyone is overcome by the spirit, and they all pass out. Abish, a nephite, comes in and sees that they have all fallen down. She thinks, "Oh, this is great! I can go show everyone what happened, and they will be converted!" So, she goes and tells everyone and they all come back and of course think Ammon has killed the king and his court. They start getting all riled up, and Abish listens to the spirit as it tells her to go touch the queen's hand. She lifts her up and she and everyone else wakes up and they start testifying of their visions and conversion.
Abish felt a prompting (to go get others) and acted on it. It didn't seem to be what she thought, so she acted on another prompting (to lift up the queen) and that worked. Think of the wisdom here. She could have lifted up the queen when she first saw her and they may have testified. But what is more powerful is for everyone to see what had happened and see with their own eyes, and hear with their own ears the testimonies of the king and his court.
I recently came across a news article from NBC Affiliate WLWT in Cincinnati. In 2019, a young woman messaged her friend on facebook saying she needed money as she was stranded in Cincinnati. Her friend told her own mom, and the mom knew something wasn’t right. Rather than just send the girl money through Messenger, as any normal millennial would probably do, the mom called the other girl’s mom and asked where she was. The other mom said she had run away and hadn’t heard from her in days, but noted that she didn’t have any family in Cincinnati. So the mom hatched a plan. She said she would send money to help her through Western Union but said they needed an address to send it to. The message came back with an address, and the mom called that location, and asked if they had seen the girl. They confirmed and then the mom called the police to rescue the girl who had actually been kidnapped, drugged, and abused for several days.
Trust your intuition. Listen to it. And when you feel something in your body and your spirit, that’s the gift of intuition. Take action and act on it. Even if you don't know what the end result will be.
The Gift of Discernment. The gift of discernment is at the intersection of your spirit and your mind. Knowledge is organized information. Wisdom is applied knowledge. And the gift of discernment is amplified wisdom.
The guide to the scriptures also states that the gift of discernment includes perceiving the true character of people and the source and meaning of spiritual manifestations.
An example from the scriptures is the story of Esther. Esther lived during the babylonian captivity of Israel. She was chosen to be in the King's harem and then when it was her turn to go into the king, he decided to make her his queen. Despite being the queen, there were still some issues that were weird. For example, she wasn't allowed to just go see the king. And, the king didn't know that she was a Jew. Her cousin got in the crosshairs of the King's vizier, Haman, who wanted all the Jews to be killed. After much prodding from her cousin Mordecai, she decided to take action, "After that I will go to the king, though it is against the law; and if I perish, I perish." (Esther 4:16)
We often think of this story as an example of someone taking a risk and standing up for what is right. I like to think the lesson from this story is that she knew the true character of the king and that she knew that she would not perish for going in to him to plead for her people.
Knowledge is knowing that people can be shady. Wisdom is knowing who is shady by their actions and your experience. And Discernment is spiritually knowing someone is shady before you know anything else about them.
There was a young boy that Staci said as soon as we met him that he was trouble. She was polite, kind, and cordial with him and his family, but strongly resisted making any kind of friendship with anyone in the family. A few months later we moved away and then found out that this boy had done some awful things to a mutual friend who had befriended the family. This was a touchy situation, but Staci knew she didn’t want that boy around her kids unsupervised.
Staci saw the true character of that boy. Staci has had this true gift of discernment many other times as it relates to our kids and their friends.
One of our kids had a friend that had a rough life and brought negative influences into our house many times. Staci, however, with the gift of discernment, saw the true character of this young person and was always welcoming and inviting, knowing that our home could be a positive influence on that young friend.
I’ve given two examples of how Staci wanted to stay away from and how she wanted to embrace two young troubled kids. How else could she know how to protect her family except by the gift of discernment?
Closing I encourage you mothers to take advantage of the gifts of compassion, intuition, and discernment as they are truly gifts from our Heavenly Father. You can experience them in your daily life.
You may think that you are not good enough or strong enough or faithful enough. I’m here to tell you that your Father in Heaven stands ready to forgive you of all your mistakes, shortcomings, and weaknesses if you will just turn to him. He loves you. He knows you better than you can imagine, and he wants to bless you with these gifts more than you know. So, tonight, I encourage you to pray for and seek after these gifts so that you can be the mother your kids need.
