“Remember our divinity as daughters of God,” said BYU–Hawaii First Lady Susan Winder Tanner to the women in attendance at the BYUH Women’s Organization luncheon on Nov. 12 in the Aloha Center Ballroom.
Her address entitled, “It Sounds an Echo in my Soul,” is a line from the hymn “How Can I Keep From Singing,” which Tanner said is a song she has always loved. “That feeling we have divinity in us sounds an echo in my soul,” she said.
Darlene Morris, whose husband is head of Security, said the talk “helped me to search for the divinity within myself and give credence to the miracles that have happened in my life, even recently. What really stuck out to me was when she was called as the Young Women’s General President she went back to her mother. She needed reassurance, and her mother said, ‘You can do it.’”
Page Nemrow and her daughter-in-law, Cindy, sang “Walk Tall, You’re a Daughter of God” before turning the time over to Tanner.
Tanner’s four daughters introduced her by giving an attribute they love about her, which is a birthday tradition at their house, they said. One at a time, they said their mother is wise, fun, selfless and always put motherhood first, “no matter what role or position she’s asked to play.”
Tanner showed photos of herself and her siblings as children, and said, “I was a little girl who knew who I was. I had a sense of well-being,” because she had been “taught by goodly parents” through “hundreds of little experiences.”
She said she it makes her happy to see her daughters sing “I Am a Child of God,” to their children, teaching the next generation of their divinity too.
Tanner spoke of the crucial role a mother plays. “We are the ones who help pass that vision [of divinity] on to others.”
She said, “Joseph Smith learned to be God’s prophet at the feet of his mother.” Lucy Mack Smith taught her son how to pray, feel the spirit and ask of God through her words and her actions, she said.
Tanner told the story of a young Joseph F. Smith, whose mother said, “We will do it,” when he didn’t know how they would cross the plains. She died when he was 14 years old, and he came to Hawaii to serve a mission the next year.
He said, “Whenever these temptations became most alluring and most tempting to me, the first thought that arose in my soul was this: Remember the love of your mother.”
Tanner said, “My identity had been instilled in me like Joseph Smith and Joseph Fielding Smith in waves of devotion by my mother. She is a Lucy Mack Smith.”
Tanner spoke of her childhood in the home of her mother, Barbara Winder, who was the 11th General President of the Relief Society. “We sang primary songs as we did our work–or so I thought as I toddled along behind her. She always told me ‘I love being a homemaker.’”
She said she didn’t want to go to school on the first day of preschool, but another girl was crying and her mother said, “Go over and help her, Susie. She’s sad.” Little Susan went over to the crying girl, and when she turned around, her mother was gone. “But it didn’t matter because she taught me to reach out and help others,” said Tanner.
In her teenage years, Tanner said her mother “reassured me how much she and dad and Heavenly Father loved me.”
Tanner’s voice wavered as she said how she went to her parents’ house after being called as the Young Women General President and she saw her favorite homemade soup boiling on the stove. Her mother put a blanket around her. “It was a warm blanket of her love. That’s what I needed–to be a little girl in her arms again.”
She said she glimpsed divinity in her daughters, as one tenaciously overcame a sickness, another cozied her own children, and another was a friend to all.
“I hope and pray all of you will remember who you are … because you feel that echo in your soul that you are daughters of God.”
She said the words of the prophets can help sisters recall their divinity, and then brought quotes from Elder Russell M. Nelson’s talk “A Plea to My Sisters;” President Gordon B. Hinckley’s “The Light Within You;” Elder M. Russell Ballard’s “Women of Righteousness;” President Spencer W. Kimball’s “Privileges and Responsibilities of Sisters,” Romans 8:16 and D&C 138:56.
Karey Passmore, whose husband works in Financial Services, said she enjoyed hearing about Barbara Winder’s example to her daughter, Susan. “We know what our children need and will always love them no matter what path they choose,” said Passmore.
The BYUH Women’s Organization also started its annual “Sub for Santa” drive. This year, it is called “Our Savior’s Hands.” The members are planning to donate presents for 10 TVA families in need.