Can you picture the hen?
The hen who has carried, borne, labored, and delivered her little chicks.
The hen who has nourished her little chicks time and time again, and gathered them every time they scattered.
There is such love because there was such sacrifice.
Selfless service and total sacrifice produce the purest love that is possible.
This is why our Savior loves us with such tender devotion. Because He sacrificed everything for us.
For me.
His body was broken for me, and His mental capacity was overwhelmed with the weight of my sins.
And because He did that, He loves me fully and completely, in a special bond that can’t quite compare.
Except to a mother.
Elder Holland gave his iconic, “Behold Thy Mother” talk in 2015, a few years before I became a mother. I remember thinking, “Wow. I can’t even imagine that kind of love.”
“No love in mortality comes closer to approximating the pure love of Jesus Christ than the selfless love a devoted mother has for her child.” – President Holland
I’m now a mom to three.
There is a lot of sacrifice in order to be a mother. My body has been broken, and healed, and broken, and healed. My mental capacities have been stretched to the limits.
And because of the sacrifice, there is great love. There is a special bond that comes from that ultimate service.
Of course anyone who sacrifices out of pure love can feel this bond, too.
But Christ Himself decided to compare His feelings of love to that of a mother.
“How oft have I gathered you as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and have nourished you.” (3 Nephi 10:4)
I think about the Motherly figures that He learned from, both in heaven and on earth.
It makes His comparison all the more powerful.
And so, when Christ calls to us, when He wants to gather us under His wings and give us nourishment, it isn’t out of duty or pity.
It’s out of the pure love and devotion that can only come from a moment of total sacrifice.
Happy Studying!
-Cali Black
One Response
I cannot recall the conference talk – the thought shared was of a mother hen that gathers her chicks under her body during a fire. She will die, but the chicks will remain safe and alive until the fire has passed over. That is great imagery for me. The Savior covers us, he covers our sins, our weakness, our shortcomings, our imperfections, our ….. He covers it with his love through his atoning sacrifice.
In like manner, we can cover the sins and shortcoming of others thru our forgiveness and our Christlike love for others in lieu of taking offense and becoming defensive.