A Treasure Box of Words of Love

I wanted to make good use of the “Words of Mother’s Love” at home, but I kept forgetting. Thinking I would remember if I could see them, I posted them on the refrigerator and by the front door, but that did not make much difference.

After giving it some thought, I decided to adapt a “treasure box” game I often played as a child. My daughter and I made a box and filled it with slips of paper, each bearing one of the nine Words of Love. Every morning, we drew one and made our “Word of the Day.” Before going to sleep, we wrote about how we practiced it in our gratitude journals.

Things did not go smoothly at first. Since we are a family of night owls, our mornings were always rushed. Many days, we were so busy getting ready for school and work that we forgot to draw a slip before leaving. On those days, we ended up skipping our gratitude journals as well. So we changed our routine and began drawing a slip before bed to practice the following day. If we still forgot to draw one, we decided to use at least one Word of Love that came to mind or that we felt like practicing.

My daughter was always delighted to draw Number 1 (“How are you?”), saying she can say it lots of times in one day. When Number 6 (“I’d love to hear more of your thoughts”) came up, she thought for a moment and said, “Hmm, I think I can do this one, too.” It was adorable to see her already thinking about how to put it into practice. One Sabbath, I had drawn Number 9 (“You’re amazing. You’re doing great.”). Apparently, while trying to put it into practice, I said to a Zion member, “It’s okay. You’re doing great.” My daughter, who had been listening from behind me, immediately pointed out that I had mixed two of the Words of Love together, and we all burst out laughing. Before long, just making eye contact with my daughter was enough to make us smile.

Just as we were beginning to get into the habit of using the Words of Love, I drew a slip one day that I did not recognize. Number 11: “I’m always on your side.”

Was this one of the Words of Love?

Puzzled, I took another look and realized that my daughter had written it herself. For a moment, tears welled up in my eyes as I wondered if these were words she wanted to hear from me. Whenever she got into an argument with other children, I would scold her first. I was suddenly filled with remorse at the thought that this might have made her feel that her mother was not on her side. As soon as I woke up the next morning, I told her, “Mom is always on your side.”

I give thanks to Heavenly Mother for filling our home with laughter and, through the “Words of Mother’s Love,” helping me understand what was in my daughter’s heart. I will put the “Words of Mother’s Love” campaign into practice even more diligently and build a happy home.