Our stake "adopted"
an elementary school in the Salt Lake Valley, offering tutoring
services to children who were learning English as a second language.
My turn to work with
the children came each Thursday morning. It was a sweet, rewarding
experience to help these beautiful, bright Hispanic and African
children who came to a resource room for an hour or two for help with
reading, spelling, and times tables.
On my first day I was
introduced to the children as an author. The children spent a lot of
time with books, but most of them had never met an author before.
Some hardly realized that real people write books. They had many
questions, so the teacher in charge invited me to bring a copy of my
new book to school the next week and talk to the children about it.
With my book in hand,
the first stop was a fourth grade class. I held up my book and began
to talk, only to realize I didn't know what to say. How does one
explain "The Ultimate Career" to ten-year-olds?
Suddenly I heard myself
telling them, "It means the Top Job. And why is it the Top Job?
Because it's the most important work in the world. And who does this
work? It's your mother! And why does she do the most important work
in the world? It's because she takes care of you!" The
children beamed and nodded their approval as we discussed a few of
the countless ways a mother takes care of her children.
I passed the book
around the class so each child could run his fingers over the cover
and turn the pages. They thought it was fun to see my photo and
compare it to me standing before them. Then we spent the next twenty
minutes or so talking about how to write an assignment for school, an
entry in their journal, a story they want to record on paper, or
maybe even a book someday.
The children had lots
of questions, such as how many times did I have to rewrite some of it
and how long did it take me to write a book. The teacher was pleased
about the rewriting part — that some words or phrases were
changed a dozen times, and she was especially happy when I told the
children that I sometimes had to look up words in the dictionary.
Then the teacher
suggested I read something to them from the book. Oh, my, I was
stumped again. I hadn't written the book with ten-year-olds in mind.
This time I found
myself turning to the chapter about age-appropriate chores for
children. I reminded the boys and girls that anyone who has the Top
Job and therefore does the most important work in the world has lots
of work to do and needs help. And who are her helpers? "You
are," I told them.
Then I read to them
from the list of things ten-year-old can do to help. They all agreed
they were capable of such tasks. Then they all promised that they
were willing to do such chores every day. I made the point that this
was what they were expected to do because the book says so.
C.S. Lewis evidently
had the "top job" concept in mind when he eloquently
penned:
The
homemaker has the ultimate career. All other careers exist for one
purpose only — and that is to support this ultimate career.
He also wrote, "A
housewife's work ... is surely in reality the most important work in
the world. Your job is one for which all others exist." He went
on to say, "trains run and ships sail" to support the
homemaker. (Letters of C.S. Lewis, p. 262)
President Gordon B.
Hinckley warmed our hearts and showed us how a mother rates when he
related a personal experience in his September 2003 message in the
general Relief Society meeting. "My children are now grown. Some
are in their 60s. But when they call and I answer the phone, they
say, “How are you?' And before I can answer they ask, "Is
mother there?"
One of the most
heartwarming and comforting tributes we can pay to women everywhere
is to acknowledge that mother is the heart of the home. By
this we mean a mother is both a force for the life and much of the
energy in the home. She is a fountain of love, tenderness, and good
feeling in the home. It is mostly from her that the warmth and spirit
of the home emanate.
With just slightly
different wording, we pay further respect and appreciation to mothers
and express our esteem for them by saying, blessed is the family
whose mother's heart is in the home. The terms "calling,"
"commitment" and "consecration” describe her.
This mother recognizes
the significance of her calling. She knows it to be a divinely
appointed role, one from which she will never be released because it
is eternal in nature.
She reveres the fact
that she has been created to be a co-partner with God in bringing
forth his spirit children to this earth and providing bodies for
them.
A mother whose heart is
in the home feels a commitment to her sacred stewardship. She pledges
to give her time and attention to her children. She is devoted to
their care and well-being.
A mother whose heart is
in the home knows her position to be a consecration. She is willing
to sacrifice everything — even her life if necessary —
for her children. She sanctifies her efforts. She recognizes she is
engaged in holy work.
President James E.
Faust expressed due honor to mothers when he said:
I
do not believe that God's purposes on earth will ever be achieved
without the influence, strength, love, support, and special gifts of
the elect women of God. They are entitled to our deepest veneration,
our fullest appreciation, and our most profound respect. I believe
angels attend them in their ministry.
So, to the wonderful
women in our lives who perform the most important work in the world,
we say, "Thank you for doing the Top Job."
Please see next month
for "Needed: Some Old-Fashioned Technology"
A native of Salt Lake City, Daryl Hoole has written and lectured extensively on home
management and family living. She has served on the ward, stake, regional, and general levels of
the Church. It has also been her privilege to fulfill three missions -- once to the Netherlands
when she was young and single; another time as companion to her husband as he presided over
the Netherlands Amsterdam Mission; and the third time with two other senior couples as Asia
Area Welfare/Humanitarian Administrators, headquartered in Hong Kong.
She and her husband Hank and are the parents of eight living children, the grandparents of thirty-six, and the great-grandparents of a rapidly increasing number.