To the One who bears the sweetest name

Mom, mama, mam, ma, mother…any way you slice it, it pretty much means the same thing: nurturer, sustainer, lover of children, friend. In our harried, hurry­up world there’s little down time. For those who believe motherhood is a relatively easy task in comparison to a “career­oriented” vocation, consider this: by the time a child reaches 18, a mother has had to handle some extra 18,000 hours of child­generated work. In fact, women who never have children enjoy the equivalent of an extra three months a year in leisure time! Where would we be without our mothers? Simply put, we wouldn’t! I love the story I read the other day about two little boys giving their mother a house plant for Mother’s Day. They had used their own money and she was thrilled. The older of them said with a sad face, “there was a bouquet that we wanted to give you at the flower shop. It was real pretty, but it was too expensive. It has a ribbon on it that said, ‘Rest in Peace’, and we thought it would be just perfect since you are always asking for a little peace so that you can rest.” Moms, do yourself a favor. Remind yourself that there’s no such thing as a ‘perfect’ mother. While no one needs to be treated with more tenderness than our moms, it seems that sometimes we’re too hard on them. There appears to be “equal opportunity” though, because when the kids aren’t too hard on mom, she has a tendency to be too hard on herself! Enjoy today and lighten up on yourself. I’ll leave you with one last story. A mother was browsing in the ladies’ department one day with her son who was just learning to read. Trying to read all the signs he could, he came upon one in the maternity department. “Look, Mom!” he said excitedly as he pointed at the sign. “They’re even making clothes for eternity now!” Although there’s no such thing as ‘eternity’ clothes, I know quite a few moms who’ve clothed their children in prayer, love and encouragement in preparation for eternity! And, to them we use this day to say, ‘thanks’. Have a blessed Mother’s Day and remember the One who gave it to you! Kevin