An untiring organ of strength

I was reading Pres Monson's talk from Priesthood . As part of his talk he tells a story of a couple he was counseling. Basically he and this couple crash a temple wedding (oh Pres. Monson!)

As part of the advice the sealer gave...

He mentioned how a husband should love his wife, how he should treat her with respect and courtesy, honoring her as the heart of the home. Then he talked to the bride about how she should honor her husband as the head of the home and be of support to him in every way.

This metaphor is a fairly common one. the iconic heart as the place of all warmth, tenderness and general goo.

But this time as I read I thought more literally.
I thought about what the heart actually does.

In under a minute, your heart can pump blood to every cell in your body. 
And over the course of a day, about 100,000 heart beats shuttle 2,000 gallons of oxygen-rich blood many times through about 60,000 miles of branching blood vessels that link together the cells of our organs and body parts. That's a hefty job for a fist-sized muscle. more heart facts








And then I thought about what a mother actual does.

She, like the heart,never rests, or stops. She is ever going steady, strong, relentless. Responsible for nourishment to reach all, constantly.

The nourishment of small bodies, little hungry minds, and precious, often  fragile souls.

The "blood" of her efforts and energies reaches out to the very same spirits once entwined within her; for to her the blood filled umbilical chord remains, invisible but real, pulling still. She responds to the pull (and constant little voices of needs, always with the same request "Maaaahhh-meeeee") taking up the exhausted, tired "cells" in her family, and replenishing them with the oxygen of kisses and snuggles, and whispers of encouragement. They breath it in, and sigh.

She eliminates waste, not just endless diapers and discarded cheerios,  but the wasting of time and potential as she strains to teach the priorities and potentials that are so clear to her as she seeks vision and direction.

She pumps and pumps, traveling the endless and repetitive paths of her home, winding through the capillaries of her day, endlessly picking up--toys, egos, dreams--putting them in their place.

She is strong. Yet, like the heart her life-giving processes happen so constantly that they can be forgotten. When was the last time you placed your hand to your chest and thought, "Hey there heart, glad your still a tickin' ? 

WE are the HEART. We are the driving force, the movement, the thrust, that quietly beats the cadence of our family.

WE are STRONG.  An amazing and vital muscle in the body of our home.

So next time you hear you are the heart of the home, feel your throbbing pulse and feel proud.