Mother's Day Holiday Musings.....part 1
Mother's Day is one of my favorite holidays. I say that knowing that for many women, it is their hardest day of the year. I am hoping to write a few different times over the next days about my thoughts on mothers and how and why to celebrate them. I can write these thoughts and still respect and honor the hearts of women who are suffering and just trying to endure Mother's Day. I have grave and deep sympathy for you. I will pray for all of you, that the heart of God will wash over you with love and peace and a sense of His Faithfulness in the middle of your struggle and heartache. I will pray. I promise. I believe that others will pray as well.
If you have lost a child, if you have not been able to conceive, if you have lost a mother.......I am feeling your hurt as you do Mother's Day. If you are waiting for a child either through birth or adoption and the wait is long and your heart is weary.....I will pray. Please reach out to me so I know who you are.
One of the reasons that I love Mother's Day is because I have a really good mother. It is a big reason why I do the work I do with young mothers and their babies.....I want them all to get it right. Not all new mothers have a good mom nearby to use as a role model. I did. She showed me how to do it right. She showed me in the every day work of growing up. Bedtime kisses. Hot breakfast. Piano lessons. Showing up for my ball games and recitals. She knew who my friends were. It was the mundane and daily parenting that sowed into me some deep and weighty truths......that I now get to share with others. It is my duty to impart as much of that as I can with young women who may not have access to a great example. Please hear this. All mothers try their best. All mothers. Some can do more than others but there is no such thing as a mother who doesn't want her child to grow up loved and safe and happy.
In the work that I do with young mothers and their children, I see families with babies from just days old to 3-4 years old. Recently I have had several new babies born, and new young families to visit. Most weeks I can go visit 6-10 different clients and weigh their newborn babies and talk to the parents about how things are going and what is good and what problems they are experiencing. This is very sacred space. I am invited into their homes and I sit on their sofas or their floors and I hold their infants and I get too see into their most precious moments of life as they learn to parent. Oh. My. Heart.
The best thing is when I give baby back to mama after doing a bit of an assessment. Baby looks at mom and the expression on baby's face is so powerful. There is love. Trust. Hope. Comfort. Baby's body releases tension and softens and melts into mama's body. Mom looks down and almost always.....when her eyes meet her baby's eyes....she smiles. It isn't a fake smile or a photo smile. It is a smile that could just as easily bring tears......it says she is tired. She is in love. She is committed. She is present. She is deserving and she is intimidated by how important she is to this little life.
Most of my moms don't know what I see....it is so hard to put it into words, but every single time it happens I see something that makes me gasp. This love......this is really important love. The love a mother has for her child is overwhelming. It is anointed. It is sacred.
Today I happened to turn on a popular TV show," Ellen". I love this show. That woman is FUNNY. Today was a tribute to pregnant women and mothers. She gave away thousands of dollars in gift cards and gifts to these pregnant mamas. It was so fun to watch. The guests in the audience were excited and grateful. I wish I had a Mother's Day/Ellen resource available all 365 days of the year. I know so many deserving mamas who could feel blessed by gifting. If only......but even more important is not money or gifts or stuff.....it is the sharing of deep and sustaining truths.
I am so lucky to have this job and to do this work. I get to walk with young women as they travel their journey into becoming mothers and share some of what I have learned. What inspires me to do this very hard and very important work is definitely tied to all of my life experiences with the mothers I have known. To my own mom.....thank you for doing it right. You raised me up so I can stand on mountains. You raised me up to walk on stormy seas. When I am strong then I am on your shoulders you raised me up to more than I can be.....
If you have lost a child, if you have not been able to conceive, if you have lost a mother.......I am feeling your hurt as you do Mother's Day. If you are waiting for a child either through birth or adoption and the wait is long and your heart is weary.....I will pray. Please reach out to me so I know who you are.
One of the reasons that I love Mother's Day is because I have a really good mother. It is a big reason why I do the work I do with young mothers and their babies.....I want them all to get it right. Not all new mothers have a good mom nearby to use as a role model. I did. She showed me how to do it right. She showed me in the every day work of growing up. Bedtime kisses. Hot breakfast. Piano lessons. Showing up for my ball games and recitals. She knew who my friends were. It was the mundane and daily parenting that sowed into me some deep and weighty truths......that I now get to share with others. It is my duty to impart as much of that as I can with young women who may not have access to a great example. Please hear this. All mothers try their best. All mothers. Some can do more than others but there is no such thing as a mother who doesn't want her child to grow up loved and safe and happy.
In the work that I do with young mothers and their children, I see families with babies from just days old to 3-4 years old. Recently I have had several new babies born, and new young families to visit. Most weeks I can go visit 6-10 different clients and weigh their newborn babies and talk to the parents about how things are going and what is good and what problems they are experiencing. This is very sacred space. I am invited into their homes and I sit on their sofas or their floors and I hold their infants and I get too see into their most precious moments of life as they learn to parent. Oh. My. Heart.
The best thing is when I give baby back to mama after doing a bit of an assessment. Baby looks at mom and the expression on baby's face is so powerful. There is love. Trust. Hope. Comfort. Baby's body releases tension and softens and melts into mama's body. Mom looks down and almost always.....when her eyes meet her baby's eyes....she smiles. It isn't a fake smile or a photo smile. It is a smile that could just as easily bring tears......it says she is tired. She is in love. She is committed. She is present. She is deserving and she is intimidated by how important she is to this little life.
Most of my moms don't know what I see....it is so hard to put it into words, but every single time it happens I see something that makes me gasp. This love......this is really important love. The love a mother has for her child is overwhelming. It is anointed. It is sacred.
Today I happened to turn on a popular TV show," Ellen". I love this show. That woman is FUNNY. Today was a tribute to pregnant women and mothers. She gave away thousands of dollars in gift cards and gifts to these pregnant mamas. It was so fun to watch. The guests in the audience were excited and grateful. I wish I had a Mother's Day/Ellen resource available all 365 days of the year. I know so many deserving mamas who could feel blessed by gifting. If only......but even more important is not money or gifts or stuff.....it is the sharing of deep and sustaining truths.
I am so lucky to have this job and to do this work. I get to walk with young women as they travel their journey into becoming mothers and share some of what I have learned. What inspires me to do this very hard and very important work is definitely tied to all of my life experiences with the mothers I have known. To my own mom.....thank you for doing it right. You raised me up so I can stand on mountains. You raised me up to walk on stormy seas. When I am strong then I am on your shoulders you raised me up to more than I can be.....
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