The hardest thing a mother goes
through, short of watching her child die – is to watch them hurt, and that is
particularly agonizing if we blame ourselves for their tears or anger.
As mothers our hearts are connected
to our children’s hearts in a way that creates such vulnerability that the
things we do for our children’s sake sometimes surprise us. We can be stronger
than we ever imagined or we can be sillier than expected, some mothers even lie
or commit crimes, somehow thinking it’s for their child’s sake. We can be
fiercely protective, yet we can be humbled and taught so much at our child’s
hand. The path of our lives becomes as crazy as the path across a Chinese
Checkers board.
If there’s a mother out there that
hasn’t cried over her children she is surely an anomaly. We cry good tears, sad
tears and tears of disbelief. There are times when we hide our tears and times
we simply cannot.
Most children have the amazing
talents to both make their mothers proud and embarrassed, sometimes within
minutes of each other. They can make us laugh, they can hurt us, they make us
want to shout from the rooftops, “That’s my child!” and they teach us to pray
like nothing else – because nothing else quite matters like our children do.
Our children redefine the word “joy”
like nothing else. They give answers to the questions of the meaning of life,
but prompt so many more questions.
I have friends who have never had
children. I have friend who have lost their children. I have friends who are
frustrated with their children. There are women out there who think they should
never have had children; each with their own private thoughts that I will never
know; their heartaches – and their victories.
God completes us all in His own
personal way whether we become parents or not. But without Him, we will never
be complete.
“As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus
the Lord, so walk ye in him:
Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in
the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving.
Beware lest any man spoil you through
philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of
the world, and not after Christ.
For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the
Godhead bodily.
And ye are complete in him, which is the head
of all principality and power” - Colossians 2:6-10 (KJV)
“If you keep my commands, you
will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commands and remain in
his love. I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your
joy may be complete. My
command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.” – John 15:10-12 (NIV)
