To Moms, Aunts, Sisters, & Teachers Everywhere

Happy Mother’s Day!

Happy Mother’s Day to women everywhere … to moms whose tempers are short and whose blood pressure is high.

Happy Mother’s Day to women who have never given birth to a bloody little mass of humanity but who have loved unconditionally and passionately little lives who came from other women’s bodies.

Happy Mother’s Day to women whose nests are empty and whose hearts are filled with regrets.

Happy Mother’s Day to women who are in the thick of it … diapers, pacifiers, piles of laundry, unpaid bills and sticky kitchen floors.

Happy Mother’s Day to aunts who would rather be with their nieces and nephews than with anyone else on the face of the planet.

Happy Mother’s Day to grandmothers who live for little arms around their necks and for giggles, sleep-overs and Eskimo kisses.

Happy Mother’s Day to teachers who triumphantly love and believe in 25 new students every year.

Happy Mother’s Day to single moms who never get a break from science projects, baseball practice, bicycle tires that need patching and hearts that need mending.

Happy Mother’s Day to women whose arms and hearts have ached to hold a baby but whose prayers and deepest desires remain unanswered and unfulfilled.

Happy Mother’s Day to women who send their children to another woman’s house every other Saturday.

Happy Mother’s Day to women whose children have slipped into eternity and into the arms of the always good, infinitely loving Heavenly Father.

The lives of the next generation are nurtured by women who are known as mothers, teachers, aunts, grandmothers, stepmoms, adoptive moms, single moms and even big sisters.

I have learned that the title attached to the woman who is doing the mothering has very little to do with the love that the child deserves or with the love that this extraordinary woman has the capacity to bestow.

I am a woman with 5 incredible children on earth and 5 children in heaven.

I am a woman with 3 too-good-to-be true daughters-in-love.

I am a woman with 5 brilliant, extraordinary grandchildren and one on the way.

I am a woman who loves children so much that it makes my heart ache and sing at the same time.

Is there anything as precious as smelling the breath of a baby so fresh from heaven?

Is there anything more exciting than watching a toddler take his or her first exciting steps into a world of new found independence?

Is there anything more bittersweet than sending your firstborn to kindergarten? Or to summer camp? Or to college?

Is there anything more challenging and frustrating than guiding a child through the tumultuous middle school years?

Is there anything more heartbreaking than watching your child suffer his or her first heartbreak?

Is there anything more fulfilling than tucking a weary child into bed at night and hearing him or her say, “I love you, mama”?

Is there anything more anything than being a mom?!!

My advice to those of you who have found yourself in the kaleidoscope world of mothering is three-fold –

1 – Pray as if your life depended on it. It does.

2 – Love in spite of and not because of. 

Love with your whole heart holding nothing back. 

 Love with your words and with your actions. 

Love until the tears roll down your cheeks and your heart aches with joy. 

 Love your children when they deserve it and when they don’t. 

Love the little ones under your care because more than they need Disneyworld, new tennis shoes or a roof over their heads … they need you and your love.

3 – Never stop believing, cheering and encouraging.

Never stop believing in their potential and in the men and women that they will become some day. 

Keep believing when all others have given up. 

Keep cheering when all others have thrown in the towel. 

Keep encouraging when discouragement surrounds their hearts like an impenetrable shield. 

Your encouragement and non-negotiable belief will penetrate the fears and lies that have become their reality. 

Your nurturing, wisdom, love and prayers will create future adults who will believe that there is no such thing as an impossible dream simply because you were their mom … or their aunt … or stepmom … or grandmother … or teacher … or sister.

Happy Mother’s Day to mothers everywhere … today is your day and I applaud you … salute you … and celebrate you!

“That the generation to come might know, even the children yet to be born, that they may arise and tell them to their children. That they should put their confidence in God and not forget the works of God, but keep His commandments.” – Psalm 78:6-8