Importance Of Motherhood
President J. Reuben Clark, Jr., one of the Lord's noble servants, defined woman's role in eternal perspective. Speaking of Eve, he speaks of all women:
"So came Eve, an helpmeet to the priesthood mission of Adam--Eve, the last Created being in the ... world. ... Adam took her in her purity, radiant and divinely fair, into the Garden he had dressed and kept for her, into the bridal home he had built, into the Garden that from then till now has been the symbol of heaven on earth, there to begin together their earthly life, that was finally to bring opportunity ... to the untold myriads of spirits then waiting for the mortal tabernacles these two were to make it possible for them to possess.
"... So Eve came ... to be a creator of bodies ... that God's design and the great plan might meet fruition.
"This was her calling. ...
"From that day, ... the greatest glory of true womanhood has been motherhood.
"What a miracle is motherhood; how nearly infinite is mother. She fashions in her womb the most complex structure known to man....
"This is wife's and mother's task and opportunity; and did she fail ... then the great plan would fail and God's purposes would come to naught. ... This must never change. ...
"But the full glory of motherhood is not yet reached when her child comes forth into this world of trial. ... She feeds not only, but clothes it. She cares for it by day and watches over it by night. ... She gently leads its faltering steps, till it walks alone. ...
"Thus to the full stature of manhood and womanhood, mother guides, ... instructs, directs ... the soul for which she built the earthly home, in its march onward to exaltation. God gives the soul its destiny, but mother leads it along the way.
"When the souls shall return to the presence of the Father of all, the worthy mothers will be there to welcome their worthy children. ..." (Immortality and Eternal Life [Melchizedek Priesthood Course of Study, 1969-70], vol. 2, pp. 24-28.)
Wives and mothers do what men cannot do. Men will bow in reverence and in love before mothers who perform this great, this marvelous service.
Contrast this view of woman with the current prattle that demeans motherhood and her exalted role; that even condones abortion and its attendant evils; that sets aside the role God gave to her. It would be hard to imagine a more exalted role of woman and her place in the eternal plan than is held and taught in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. We invite you to consider this carefully for it comes from God.
Parental responsibility cannot go unheeded, nor can it be shifted to day-care centers, nor to the schoolroom, nor even to the Church. Family responsibility comes by divine decree. Parents may violate this decree only at the peril of their eternal salvation.
Only out of this purposeful, divine relationship of parent and child grows eternal joy and fulfillment. President Harold B. Lee has said, "The most important work you will ever do for the church will be within the walls of your own home."