This past Sunday, we celebrated Mother's Day. I feel so blessed that God has entrusted me with 3 beautiful little personalities to nurture and grow. And today, my "baby" girl turns 6. This has become a time of reflection for me - looking back on the past 12 years of motherhood and witnessing the growth and progress of my "babies", the oldest of which now stands at eye level with me.
I love this quote by Mildred B. Vermont: "Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love." It speaks volumes about motherhood. You see, motherhood is nearly a thankless job. We change diapers, we feed, we bathe, we kiss boo-boos, we transport children to and from school, and we sit through countless of hours of homework that often exceeds our understanding. And often we do all these things without a "thank you". But it never stops getting done. We stay up late at night to nurse a fever, scare away a monster, or rock a bad dream away. And no one really stops to acknowledge the effort a mother puts into her duties. But we would surely notice if these things didn't get done! But at the end of each season in our child's lives, we are "thanked" when we realize that (a) our children have grown and matured, (b) our children have survived, and (c) our children love us a little bit more than they did in the previous season. That's where our payoff comes from.
As mothers, we wear so many different hats. I am a nanny, a nurse, a bus driver, a teacher, a cook, a counselor, a librarian, a butler, a cleaner, a launderer, a personal shopper, a coach, a mentor, a maid, a hair stylist, an alarm clock, a calendar, a tailor, a social planner, an accountant, an errand girl, a healer, a researcher, a bank teller, an editor, a seamstress, a nutritionist, a finder of lost things, a story-teller, and many, many more. As Cardinal Mermillod once wrote, "A mother is she who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take." As mothers, we do it all. There is no broken object we can't try to super glue, nor no wod of gum we can't cut out, no boo-boo we can't kiss better, and no hug we will turn away.
Even scripture sings of how incredibly important our job as a mother is. In Proverbs 6:20, it says "do not forsake your mother's teaching." God has charged us with the responsibility to nurture, teach, and raise our children in His ways. He tells us that we must raise children to be responsible, to love and respect God, and to be kind to our fellow man. It's no small task, but He intended that mothers do this to bring Him glory. Not bring the moms glory, but bring the Father glory. We already know that being a mom is not a glorious job - all the spills, messes, diapers, vomit, snot, school glue, snacks, etc... there is nothing glorious in what we do for our children in the name of the Father. Nothing. We know, beyond all doubt, that the glory must be to our Father in Heaven, because we know we're not getting any! "What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She lay down among them and reared her cubs." (Ezekiel 19:2) We choose the difficult, unglorious, thankless path because we are women, we are mothers, and we have been designed to do things that other creatures could not - would not - do. It's who we are. It's what God has made us to be. And we can take great pride in knowing that what we do reaps great reward.
One day, all of us mothers look back on the accomplishments and milestones of our children's lives. We pray they have long, fruitful lives. We pray that we grow very old and get to experience these milestones with our children. We hope in our hearts to become grandparents, and great-grandparents and spend time watching our own children grow up to be these things. But often we do not get to fully see the fruits of our labors. But we can treasure in our hearts the foundation that we laid so lovingly during our lifetime. "Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares a world she will not see." Pope Paul VI.
As I look back on the last 12 years of motherhood, I do so through tear-filled eyes. Tears of joy, tears of pain, tears of struggle and grief, tears of happy memories. And none of it would I trade for one moment of anything else.
I love this quote by Mildred B. Vermont: "Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field, since the payment is pure love." It speaks volumes about motherhood. You see, motherhood is nearly a thankless job. We change diapers, we feed, we bathe, we kiss boo-boos, we transport children to and from school, and we sit through countless of hours of homework that often exceeds our understanding. And often we do all these things without a "thank you". But it never stops getting done. We stay up late at night to nurse a fever, scare away a monster, or rock a bad dream away. And no one really stops to acknowledge the effort a mother puts into her duties. But we would surely notice if these things didn't get done! But at the end of each season in our child's lives, we are "thanked" when we realize that (a) our children have grown and matured, (b) our children have survived, and (c) our children love us a little bit more than they did in the previous season. That's where our payoff comes from.
As mothers, we wear so many different hats. I am a nanny, a nurse, a bus driver, a teacher, a cook, a counselor, a librarian, a butler, a cleaner, a launderer, a personal shopper, a coach, a mentor, a maid, a hair stylist, an alarm clock, a calendar, a tailor, a social planner, an accountant, an errand girl, a healer, a researcher, a bank teller, an editor, a seamstress, a nutritionist, a finder of lost things, a story-teller, and many, many more. As Cardinal Mermillod once wrote, "A mother is she who can take the place of all others, but whose place no one else can take." As mothers, we do it all. There is no broken object we can't try to super glue, nor no wod of gum we can't cut out, no boo-boo we can't kiss better, and no hug we will turn away.
Even scripture sings of how incredibly important our job as a mother is. In Proverbs 6:20, it says "do not forsake your mother's teaching." God has charged us with the responsibility to nurture, teach, and raise our children in His ways. He tells us that we must raise children to be responsible, to love and respect God, and to be kind to our fellow man. It's no small task, but He intended that mothers do this to bring Him glory. Not bring the moms glory, but bring the Father glory. We already know that being a mom is not a glorious job - all the spills, messes, diapers, vomit, snot, school glue, snacks, etc... there is nothing glorious in what we do for our children in the name of the Father. Nothing. We know, beyond all doubt, that the glory must be to our Father in Heaven, because we know we're not getting any! "What a lioness was your mother among the lions! She lay down among them and reared her cubs." (Ezekiel 19:2) We choose the difficult, unglorious, thankless path because we are women, we are mothers, and we have been designed to do things that other creatures could not - would not - do. It's who we are. It's what God has made us to be. And we can take great pride in knowing that what we do reaps great reward.
One day, all of us mothers look back on the accomplishments and milestones of our children's lives. We pray they have long, fruitful lives. We pray that we grow very old and get to experience these milestones with our children. We hope in our hearts to become grandparents, and great-grandparents and spend time watching our own children grow up to be these things. But often we do not get to fully see the fruits of our labors. But we can treasure in our hearts the foundation that we laid so lovingly during our lifetime. "Every mother is like Moses. She does not enter the promised land. She prepares a world she will not see." Pope Paul VI.
As I look back on the last 12 years of motherhood, I do so through tear-filled eyes. Tears of joy, tears of pain, tears of struggle and grief, tears of happy memories. And none of it would I trade for one moment of anything else.
"I affirm my profound belief that God's greatest creation is womanhood. I also believe that there is no greater good in all the world than motherhood. The influence of a mother in the lives of her children is beyond calculation." - James E. Faust
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