Mothers: Saviors on Mount Zion

I know Mother's Day was almost a month ago--but there is something that I wanted to say that didn't quite fit into my discussion and defense of Eve. My observation is simply this: mothers have an opportunity that is rarely offered to anyone else. They have the privilege of bringing about the salvation of others through vicarious suffering. Your salvation, my salvation, is not possible without a physical body, and we are allowed to inhabit a physical body only because our mothers voluntarily suffered on our behalf--they suffer nine months of intense physical discomfort and nausea, then literally pass through the valley of the shadow of death in labor and delivery. Childbearing is, in my opinion, the nearest that any mortal ever gets to walking in the Savior's footsteps from Gethsemane to Calvary, and I am particularly mindful of that special relationship now, as my own wife and my sister Becky--whose visits to the valley of the shadow of death are longer and more frightening than any others of which I am aware--are pregnant. This post is for them and for my own mother, whose sacrifice I (lamentably) did not appreciate in my youth.

Table for Two in Heaven

The plan was such that only two
could bear the cross for me and you,
could suffer pains on our behalf
and mitigate our struggles to

and through mortality: a Brother
strong, wise, and loving; and another
who wept and bled for us, who walked
through Death’s dark vale for us — a Mother.