Now, I may be biased, but I’m convinced that my mother is perfect. What is it mothers do that has such an abiding impact? They love. Mine certainly does. Bradley D. Foster said, “Perhaps the reason we respond so universally to our mothers’ love is because it typifies the love of our Savior. As President Joseph F. Smith said, “The love of a true mother comes nearer [to] being like the love of God than any other kind of love.””
This love is what allows mothers to have such an impact in the lives of their children. James E. Faust said: “There is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation.” Dear mothers, do you know what great good you are doing?
There is a story in a book of scripture called The Book of Mormon about 2000 young men who volunteered to fight to protect their country and their families from their invading enemies. Their leader named Helaman recounted their courage as they went to battle: “Now 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. And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.” The loving teachings of their mothers inspired in them such faith in God that they were not afraid. Dear mothers, do you know that your testimony and your faith can inspire such courage and faith in your children?
Tad R. Callister explained that one of the most meaningful and important things we can do for our children is to teach them the power of prayer. It is prayer that will guide your children when you are not there. It is prayer that will answer their questions. It is prayer that will protect them throughout the day. He asks, what parent would "let their sons march out to the front of battle without a breastplate and shield and sword to protect them against the potentially mortal blows of the enemy? But how many of us let our children march out the front door each morning to the most dangerous of all battlefields, to face Satan and his myriad of temptations, without their spiritual breastplate and shield and sword that come from the protective power of prayer?”
Certainly prayer is something that the mothers of those 2000 young men taught them. And because of this, not one of them died. Because of their faith, God delivered each and every one of them. Dear mothers, do you know that by teaching your children to pray you are giving them a literal protection?
Because my mother taught me to pray and listen, I know that God hears and answers. Because I know that He hears and answers, I have the faith to allow Him to guide me. Because He guides me, I will not go astray. Dear Mother, did you know this is because of you?