On Mother's Day this year, I was asked to give a sacrament meeting address — and in the writing of it, the Lord taught me something about motherhood I had never seen before. I wanted to share it while it was still warm.

Episode 10 is about the labor the world cannot see: the endowment given natively to every mother, and vicariously to every woman who has poured her life into children of any kind.

The claim is simple, and it is doctrine. The charity most disciples receive by covenant in the temple is planted in the soil of motherhood from the beginning. A mother does not have to be taught to love her child — that love unfolds in her the moment the child is placed in her arms. It is the same love the Father has for His children, the same pure love of Christ spoken of in Moroni 7. Endowment is native equipment for the labor, not a reward for it.

I close with my own mother, who received her temple endowment while I served my mission in Mongolia — the covenant version of the love she had been pouring out since the day I was placed in her arms.

To every mother, and to every woman raising children of the body or of the spirit: you have been endowed. The Father sees what no one else can see.

A PDF and audio version of the original address (not in my voice) is available at dogreaterworks.com.

The spark is to live the teachings of Christ. The fire is to be perfected in Him. Come, do greater works than these.

• (00:00:00) - All About It
• (00:00:49) - The Endowment of Motherhood
• (00:07:03) - Sacrament Meeting Address