Mothers and Daughters

This entry is part of my general conference application series.

Mothers and Daughters, by Elder M. Russell Ballard
Of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles


In his last address, Elder Ballard addressed fathers and sons. I remember watching that talk with my eldest son, and when he told me that I was perfect (click here for more details). Interestingly, I watched this talk on mothers and daughters with my wife and little girl (spoiler alert: I love them both very much).

The other day, my little girl and I went on a short daddy-daughter date; we shared an ice cream cone at McDonald's. Half-way through our cone, as I sat across the table from her in a comfortable silence, I looked at her and saw a beautiful daughter of God, full of admirable qualities. In fact, seeing her many amazing qualities shining before me reminded me of her mother, my wife.


Before I was married, I tried to envision what my wife would be like. I had the picture of perfection in my mind (a picture, I'm happy to report, that wasn't nearly good enough because my wife is even better than I had pictured! ). This mindset of what I wanted in a spouse was mostly selfish at the time. Now, however, I see that there is a serendipidous additional outcome to my wife's perfection—my children are either inheriting her goodness, or they're learning it from her firsthand. (Actually, it's probably both.)

The wonderfulness of my wife is spreading to the whole family (including to me), but Elder Ballard spoke of the special relationship that is shared by mothers and daughters. While I could point to many quotes in his address that reminded me of my two wonderful girls (or women, if you prefer), I think I'll just let them speak for themselves. Watch them and you'll see, as do I, that they love the Lord, they love each other, and they love our family.


I'm grateful for my two perfect princesses.