The Stripling Warriors Sisters

I grew up hearing stories about how amazing "the stripling warriors" were. These were young men who fought courageously to defend their country and to keep their fathers from breaking an oath they made to never to take up arms against another human being.

They really were amazing individuals, and I'm glad I heard their stories. Check this out:

47 Now they never had fought, yet they did not fear death; and they did think more upon the liberty of their fathers than they did upon their lives; yea, they had been taught by their mothers, that if they did not doubt, God would deliver them.

48 And they rehearsed unto me the words of their mothers, saying: We do not doubt our mothers knew it.

Alma 56:47-48

When I was in college, I got to thinking - why don't we know anything about the sisters of these incredible young men? Surely they had to be incredible people too, right?

On a plane to or from my parents home and college I was thinking about those wonderful young women and I wrote the following poem:

I was the sister of a stripling warrior -
His mother was my mother,
What she taught him, she taught me too.
The things he came to know, I too know.
He did not doubt the Lord, nor did I
Our faith won us battles,
His in war, mine at home -
And both in life.

Recently a former professor of mine shared an address about honor he gave to the incoming freshman class of 2015 at my undergraduate institution. His reasons for living an honorable life sum up how I feel about this topic:

I live an honorable life when I remember that my life is not my own. I live an honorable life when I embrace the gifts and acknowledge the sacrifices of those who came before me: gifts and sacrifices that made possible all that is good in my life. What I do with these gifts, what I do with my life, reflects on these gift givers.

I am grateful for the lives of the stripling warriors - and their sisters - and for the fact that the experiences of the stripling warriors were recorded so I can learn from them, and seek to honor them by how I live my life now.