A Mother is a Door....

Tonight (this was back in February) I teach John 10 in Institute class.  I have loved studying and pondering the Book of John and I have been quite arrested by the boldness and unconventionality of the Savior as depicted by John.  He spoke forthrightly and without apology about truth, including who He was.

John 10 is the famous chapter about the sheepfold, the shepherd, the hireling and the door to the sheepfold.  The Savior is not only the shepherd, he is also the door.  He is not just a hireling as he lays down his life for the sheep.  (I remember being told when we were in Israel that the shepherd would lie down and sleep in the doorway at night to guard the sheep.) 

I believe a true mother, like the Savior, is a door.  The mother lays down her life for the child to enter into the world.  She is the doorway into mortality.  She continues to lay down her life all of her years for the well-being and protection and teaching of her children.  Her children hear her voice and know her.  (Not that hearing her voice necessarily translates into obeying her voice. as we all know! :) The act of motherhood is so closely related to the role of a Savior.  (And the Savior’s role is the catalyst for our second birth, our spiritual birth.)  For some time now "modern thought" seems to be subtlety changing a mother’s role to that of a hireling.  Her children are just another job in her life, and once the younger years of physical care are passed she can dive back into her career.  Rather than being the core of her life her children are one of the many balls that she juggles.  When robbers and thieves appear threatening her child’s spiritual life she inadvertently and without realization does not have the time and resources and spiritual strength to fend off the attack.  She and her children become victimized, thrown to and fro by the world and its ways. I don't intend this to be a statement that women should do nothing else beyond child rearing.  An active and vibrant life is an enriching example to children.  I am speaking more about a focus, an eternal commitment, a prioritization of life's purposes, being aware, being available and having a spiritual reserve from whence to draw as extraordinary wisdom is needed during exacting circumstances.  I am talking about being "the door" and "the shepherd" as our children come and go.