Fourth Sunday Lesson Schedule

               

May Presidency Message

The Gift of Nurturing

The gift to nurture is given to women. To some it is bestowed divinely at birth. To others it is a gift to be sought, exercised through service and developed over the years. Nurturing to me denotes nourishing of body and soul. A support to the spirit and growth of another...Nurture can be a word or a touch. A connection of understanding between friends. Many have shown me what it feels like to be nurtured. I think of Primary, Young Women's leaders and Bishops from my youth. A young sister in our Stake that reached out to me and became a mentor during my high school years or an exceptional elementary school teacher in my fifth grade, a first Relief Society President that became a friend to me while raising my young children and others like my own dear sisters and visiting teachers that through the years have been there to support and sustain me through the ups and downs of life.

As Mother's Day approaches my mind is filled with reflections of those from whom I received the sweet gift of nurture. One was my own Mother, the Mother of nine children and eight and a half months pregnant with number Ten. Mom was both gentle and fierce. One day while my Father was at work she was alerted to the fact that a neighbor woman was at that moment being severely beaten by her husband. Mom saved the day by pushing in the kitchen door to the neighbors house armed with a broom which she squarely applied  and commanded the man to leave...and he did !!!

Mom befriended the forgotten. I remember how she helped to activate a young blind Mother to the Church by picking her up for each activity. Many afternoons were spent in service cleaning and organizing this blind sisters home which enabled her to adopt two additional children. This sister eventually was called to be a teacher in Relief Society and served  faithfully while sharing her extraordinary talents.

I believe my Mom's greatest example of Christianity was how she lived outside of church. She was one of those embarrassing Mothers that would ask Young Mothers at church if they needed any help with several of their squirrely children during Sacrament meeting. She was one to always slow the car down if she saw a young Mother or aged Grandmother struggling with groceries and children to ask if they needed a ride while our cheeks flushed and we shyly sunk to the floor of the car.

Mom would take one or two of us along as she visited shut-ins, the aged, the lonely, the ill or infirm. She invited to our home a man with the Palsy, took me to visit a man who had no nose, only a seeping hole marred by cancer. We sat with the dying and the mentally ill. Making her rounds, checking in to see what was needed. She had teenagers to lend for an afternoon to clean or weed or babysit.

We grew to love others as she loved them, through service. We became adept at recognizing the needs of others as she loved them through service. Empathy for the less fortunate was taught by example. sinners were forgiven, help extended to the poor, food for the hungry, balm to the broken hearted. Mom had a gift for recognizing the unspoken need of another. She was determined to do whatever she could to relieve them even when she had few resources herself. Growing up in Montana my brother describes transients coming to the door of where we lived begging for food. Mother would feed them and then give them the opportunity to earn their meal. On more than one occasion she would be fixing a meal and get a phone call of some family in need. She would pack up the meal and take it to them then return home to fix a different and perhaps less appetizing meal for the family. Many lives were touched by her spirit of inclusion and compassion. Mom fostered a spirit of gratitude. She was quick to send a thank you note even if what she was thanking you for was a card, or something nice she had heard you say. She kept the corner florist in business as she was always the first to send flowers.

After my Mother's funeral and the year that followed, Relief Society sisters would approach us to tell us reverently how my Mother had saved them or served them during times of great need or distress. What they hadn't known during all of those years was the very private struggle my Mother had had with clinical depression, anxiety, migraine headaches, Parkinson's, cancer and various other debilitating maladies. In spite of her own afflictions she was able to reach out and nurture those around her. Her favorite scripture "I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me." Philippians 4:13

Perhaps it was her own battles that caused her to be so sensitive to the plight of others and caused her to see their need for nurture. As our Mother's health declined in later years she lived life with grace and dignity. She accepted the limitations that advancing years brought her without complaint. The experiences we shared with our Mother during her last years remain sweet memories. I hope to live a life that brings honor to my Mother. The most important gift she gave me was the gospel of Jesus Christ. She also gave me life. She nurtured me and taught me about the Son of God that promises Eternal Life in the Name of Jesus Christ, Amen.

Sister Addie Simper

Stake Relief Society President