Conference SPOTLIGHT - Single Mothers

 The conference spotlights is a series of talks from the LDS General Conference.  I picked one each week to study and record my thoughts about it. 5/13/012

Faith, Fortitude, Fulfillment: A Message to Single Parents,by David S. Baxter (there are links to watch, listen, and download, on the right hand side, as well as the text)    

"My message is for the single parents in the Church, the majority of whom are single mothers--you valiant women who, through the varying circumstances of life, find yourselves raising children and running a home on your own.

Whatever your circumstances or the reasons for them, how wonderful you are. Day to day you face the struggles of life, doing the work that was always meant for two but doing it largely alone. You have to be father as well as mother. You run your household, watch over your family, sometimes struggle to make ends meet, and miraculously you even find the wherewithal to serve in the Church in significant ways. You nurture your children. You cry and pray with them and for them. You want the very best for them but fret every night that your best may never be good enough.

This is not exactly what you hoped or planned, prayed for or expected, when you started out years ago. Your journey through life has had bumps, detours, twists, and turns, mostly as the result of life in a fallen world that is meant to be a place of proving and testing.

Meanwhile, you are striving to raise your children in righteousness and truth, knowing that while you cannot change the past, you can shape the future. Along the way you will obtain compensatory blessings, even if they are not immediately apparent.

With God's help, you need not fear for the future. Your children will grow up and call you blessed, and every single one of their many achievements will stand as a tribute to you."

One thing I've noticed is that people who have been raised by single parents (like the guy who actually gave this talk) have SUCH reverence for the parent who raised them.  They truly do "call them blessed" as they become adults and realize how difficult a job it is.

 I like the part of the talk too that says none of us are ever truly alone--we always have the Savior. I think that's a comforting reminder for everyone.