One Members Response to President Nelson's Mother's Day Post | A Conversation on Our Heavenly Mother

On May 9th, 2021, President Russell M. Nelson wrote a Mother's Day post on his Facebook account with him saying the following:

 

"I love Mother’s Day, but I realize that many women don’t share my enthusiasm. Some feel left out of this holiday because they haven’t borne children, and others dislike it because they have. But from my point of view, Mother’s Day is truly special. I never cease to be amazed that when Heavenly Father created women, He not only gave them the capacity to bring life into the world, but He also endowed them with the gifts required to shape and teach all of us. Women not only bear children, they bear with all of humankind in life-changing ways.

So on this Mother’s Day, I pay tribute to the life-sustaining influence of all of God’s daughters. Our Heavenly Parents love you for your sheer courage and for the unequaled influence you have in this world of ours. Happy Mother’s Day!"

 

Two days later, one member of the Church wrote her recent experience and feelings towards Mother's day in response to President Nelson's post stating:

There was no mention of Heavenly Mother, whatsoever, in this thought. What if I had posted something similar, ON MOTHER’S DAY, about my own family?

Me, with a picture of my dad: “I never cease to be amazed by my incredible father, and how when he created me and my sister, he gave us so many of his gifts and talents.”

I know what would happen next. Everyone would say, “Actually, Abby – your MOTHER did a whole lot more work creating you than he did, and it’s literally Mother’s Day, so maybe you should talk about her instead of him right now.” I would sound ungrateful to my mom, and very out of touch with the reality of how childbearing actually works. Dads are great, but they rightfully get almost no credit in the creation of their child, because their part (while critical) is infinitely less demanding physically, emotionally, and mentally than what mothers do.

And yet, President Nelson only talks of Heavenly Father and how he created all of us, apparently all on his own, on Mother’s Day, and many LDS mothers are sharing his words and thanking him for saying them. I honestly don’t understand why we are all okay with this. If we have a Heavenly Mother, then she deserves so much more, especially on the one day set aside each year to honor motherhood.

 

She then concludes her blog post with the following statement:

 

I see this clearly every Mother’s Day, and it makes the whole holiday depressing, even if I like being a mom. I have maybe 40 or 50 more Mother’s Days left, where I’ll get a gift or meal, but then after that I’ll become a Heavenly Mother who will basically cease to exist. Every time my children talk about me, they’ll omit me from the story and say that Dad created them (with no help from me, it would seem). It makes me think Mother’s Day is actually just another holiday for the men, not me.

 

One thing to note is this: Heavenly Father is our Father in Heaven. He sent His son, Jesus Christ, to come down to Earth and atone for our sins so that we can live with Him again. He created a beautiful plan of happiness, and gave us opportunities to grow throughout our trials and time on Earth. He LOVES us. Heavenly Father LOVES us. We are His children. 

 

Now, with that being said, it is interesting to note that we don't discuss Heavenly Mother and her role in everything. I've never really thought about it until I read this blog post and it really started to make me think and ask some questions. Why don't we acknowledge her role more? Why don't we acknowledge her existence more?