"Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20; Moses 4:26)

Can I just tell you that one of the worst things you can say to a stay-at-home mom when her children have a day off of school is: "You don't have to go to work today"! First of all, I do love my children, and I do love being a stay-at-home mom. But, I must say right up front, it is the hardest, most taxing and challenging "job" I have ever done in my life! And guess what? I don't ever get to "leave work". It is a part of me, it is my life, I am a mother. To be a mother is something that takes emotion, thought, heart, mind, time, energy, spirit, more patience than I naturally have, and it really helps that I have a very supportive, patient, loving husband. But I am here to share thoughts about mothers and Christ. How do these two relate? Great question. (I love asking these kinds of questions because the Spirit always teaches me things I need to know).

"Adam called his wife's name Eve; because she was the mother of all living" (Genesis 3:20; Moses 4:26). As women, we are all mothers, not just when we have children, but because we are women, women of God. Notice that Adam called his wife Eve, the mother of all living, before she had children. As women of God we get the sacred responsibility to nurture children. President Gordon B. Hinckley said this, about us as women of God: "You are the guardians of the hearth. You are the bearers of the children. You are they who nurture them and establish within them the habits of their lives. No other work reaches so close to divinity as does the nurturing of the sons and daughters of God" (Stand Strong against the Wiles of the World). To nurture children takes our time, our effort, our hearts and our minds. It takes our talents and our money. And it is worth every sacrifice to be able to strengthen, teach, guide, and lift our children or any children. For all are children of God.

Eve was the mother of all living. As women we are symbolic Eve's. We too, are mother's of all living. Everyone on the earth is a son or daughter of God (see Psalms 82:6), all in need of nurturing. How can we go about nurturing others? First, let's define what it means to nurture and then give a couple of examples. "Nurture is a rich word. It means to train, to teach, to educate, to foster development, to promote growth, and to nourish and feed" (Daughters in My Kingdom). With all those elements involved with nurturing we can all contribute something to our brothers and sisters each day and "help other's on their way" (Primary Children's Songbook, He Sent His Son #34). We can follow the example of our Savior and help Him in His work. The Savior said, "For they were set to be a light unto the world, and to be the saviors of men" (D&C 103:9 see also verse 10).

How can we be "saviors of men"? I will only suggest two things, and they are from the same word, but mean different things. Let us be "saviors of men" by being a "light unto the world" (D&C 103:9 italics added). We must let our "light so shine before men" (Matthew 5:16 italics added), we must be good examples of what we really believe. NO compartmentalizing. We have to be what we profess we are in all areas of our life. When we say we follow Jesus Christ, we then follow His example not only at church, but at home, at work, at school, wherever we may be. "But be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving your own selves" (James 1:22). When we let "truth and light" (D&C 93:28) lead our lives, then our "whole body shall be full of light" (Matthew 6:22-23). When we let what we know to be true permeate our lives His light will shine through us, giving light to others, nurturing them.

The other kind of "light" is, to be "willing to bear one another's burdens, that they may be light" (Mosiah 18:8 italics added). When we help make another's burden light, we are nurturing them. The Savior was the greatest example of this. He carried all our burdens, physically and spiritually, "that He may know according to the flesh how to succor His people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:12). Sometimes we are given challenges or infirmities so that we may know how to "succor His people according to their infirmities" (Alma 7:12), that we may help make another's burden light. (Have you ever thought that making burdens light, is a form of "light", meaning the Saviors light? Just something to ponder).

The Savior knows all that He must do to nurture His children and we as "daughters of God" (Guide to the Scriptures), "Eve's", "mother's of all living" (Genesis 3:20), get to help Him with this divine calling, by nurturing all His children. This I testify.