For those that don't recall/know the story, let me just quickly tell it to you. The men of the People of Ammon having been former war-loving Lamanites, had buried their weapons upon following Ammon's gospel teaching. They made a covenant to never shed blood again as they had done far too much bloodshed in their lives.
When the Lamanites began attacking the Nephites, inciting another war, the men of the People of Ammon wanted to end their covenant to help protect the people who had spent the last decade protecting them. Instead, their sons decided to form a battalion, requesting that Helaman be their captain. Helaman led these boys (as Helaman himself refers to them as "young") into battle with the Lamanites. And Helaman had this to say (Found in Alma 56:45-49):
46 For as I had ever called them my sons (for they were all of them very young) even so they said unto me: Father, behold our God is with us, and he will anot suffer that we should fall; then let us go forth; we would not slay our brethren if they would let us alone; therefore let us go, lest they should overpower the army of Antipus.
47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the aliberty of their bfathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their cmothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.
48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their amothers, saying: We bdo not doubt our mothers knew it.
I find this to be an awe inspiring moment. Especially verses 47 and 48. The earlier verse there mentions that they had been taught by their mothers. And the second idea of "We do not doubt our mothers knew it" is just priceless.This is actually a topic I've been thinking on lately. In my family, I was definitely the momma's boy. I'm the youngest, the baby. My mom did indeed give me preferential treatment as the baby. However, I also always did things for my mom. I rarely recall a time my mom actually got her own glass of water. When I got my license and because of her cancer and such, I was the one that would drive her everywhere. Despite my dad thinking I was just being lazy, there were days I didn't go to school so I could take my mom to a doctor's appointment. Yeah, I did like not going to school, but my mom had a strong fear of driving for some reason. She even wrote me once while on my mission to tell me that she drove herself.
And that leads me to what got me thinking on this topic. For those who don't know, my mom passed away over 11 years ago now from cancer. I was on my mission at the time. I did have some warning. And sometime between the time I found out she was going to pass and the time she did (just 10 days later), I decided to mail a box of letters I'd received to my sister. At the end of last month, my sister found that box and sent it to me as a nice surprise.
Last night, I finally took time to sit and go through them. They are date from February 2002 until July 2002 (about 4 weeks before she passed). I decided I wanted to read them in order and out loud with my wife, as my wife has never had the opportunity to meet my mom and only knows her from the few stories my family and I tell when we get together.
Despite the TMI my mom seemed to share about things, the second letter I read was the one that was the hardest to get through. My wife and I were both crying as my mom talked about how I was her baby and she would always worry about me. It was a great reminder of how much my mom loves me.
So even though I was mocked for being a momma's boy growing up. Even though so many people look at momma's boys as wusses and horrible for society (sometimes, not all the time). I say I had a good relationship with my mom and I don't care what anyone else thinks. And the next time someone thinks your relationship with one of your parents isn't the most socially cool, they don't know how long you may have with that parent. And neither do you.
Alien abductions are involuntary, but probings are scheduled.
No comments:
Post a Comment