A Mother’s Love

It was 12:45 a.m. on a weekday night. I lay in bed at my tiny college apartment, feeling on the edge of tears. Despite having gone to bed an hour or two earlier, I had yet to fall asleep. The longer I lay there, waiting for sleep to come, the worse things started to feel. I was stressed with school and work and relationships, but mostly I felt alone.

Knowing that I wouldn’t be able to sleep until I felt better, I grabbed my phone and slipped on my shoes. Careful not to wake up my roommate, I crept out to my car to find refuge in a space of my own. When I got there, I dialed my mom’s cellphone number. As soon as she answered and I heard her loving voice, I broke down in tears.

Despite the late hour, my mother answered, and she wasn’t angry with me for waking her up nor did she tell me to hang up and go to sleep. She listened and comforted me while I explained my emotions. Earlier in the evening, I heard my roommates saying some less than kind things about me and I felt uncomfortable and unwelcome in my own home.

After talking with my mom, I was able to calm down and get some rest. In sacrificing her sleep, my mom let me know how much she cared about me. In that moment, I felt a deep and unconditional love—similar to the kind of love God has for each of us.

M. Russell Ballard talked about this connection between God’s love and a mother’s love in a 2003 devotional:

A mother’s nurturing love arouses in children, from their earliest days on earth, an awakening of the memories of love and goodness they experienced in their premortal existence. Because our mothers love us, we learn, or, more accurately, remember, that God also loves us. President Thomas S. Monson said, “One cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God. Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one.”

—Denya Palmer, BYU Publications & Graphics editorial intern