Editor’s note: “The Spoken Word” is shared by Lloyd Newell each Sunday during the weekly Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square broadcast. This will be given Sunday, May 14, 2023.

The heart of a mother can be found in women from all walks of life — grandmothers, sisters, aunts, teachers, friends and caregivers, to name only a few. Just as each child is different, each mother is different too:

• An aunt who mentors a young nephew
• A friend who looks after a tired mother’s children
• A teacher who gives special attention to a struggling student
• A caregiver who patiently attends to a disabled adult

Each mother is unique in her gifts, circumstances and contribution to our lives. Even though no mother is perfect, each is loving and lovable. What an important idea — we don’t have to be perfect to love and be loved.

Some naturally worry about falling short of an elusive ideal. But perfection is not required. Being the fount of all wisdom or the fixer of all problems is not necessary.

The mothers in our lives are noble because they perceive our needs and sacrifice to meet them. Like our Savior, Jesus Christ, they lay down a portion of their lives to nurture, protect, and enrich us. And in this they embrace the opportunity for joy and accept the possibility of sorrow.

It is a sacred work, a sacred trust, because it is through such service that God shows His love for all of His children.

And every time these women — these many mothers — wipe a tear, pause to listen, and kneel to pray, heaven comes a little closer to earth.

With that perspective, today we remember women everywhere who have loving hearts and healing hands, and we express our gratitude for the blessings they bring into our lives.

In the words of the poet William Brown from long ago:

The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven.

(See “Mother, Home, Heaven,” by William G. Brown, in “Poets and Poetry of Vermont,” edited by Abby Maria Hemenway (1858), page 323.)

Tuning in …

The “Music & the Spoken Word” broadcast is available on KSL-TV, KSL Radio 1160AM/102.7FM, KSL.com, BYUtv, BYUradio, Dish and DirectTV, SiriusXM Radio (Ch. 143), the tabernaclechoir.org, youtube.com/TheTabernacleChoir and Amazon Alexa (must enable skill). The program is aired live on Sundays at 9:30 a.m. on many of these outlets. Look up broadcast information by state and city at musicandthespokenword.com/viewers-listeners/airing-schedules.