A Mother's Love

Motherhood: a never ending role in life, one of life's most rewarding accomplishments, and at the same time one of the hardest jobs in the world. Yet millions of women never think twice about all they have given. In their efforts they find the ability to give more than they ever knew they had to give. For mothers, it is instinctive - it is a part of our very being; the overwhelming urge to protect, nourish, love and encourage. Toni Morrison, author of "Beloved," wrote it best when she penned, "

Grown don't mean nothing to a mother. A child is a child. They get bigger, older, but grown? What's that suppose to mean? In my heart it don't mean a thing."

Our children walk out of the door each morning going to school,eventually adventuring to college and ultimately leaving our homes for their new lives.

The minutes, days and years away from their mothers, they are never gone from their thoughts, hearts, or lives.

From the time we are carrying that precious seed in our womb to opening our bodies to give them life are just the first baby steps of motherhood.

Instinctively, we abandon anything needed to keep them healthy, safe and thriving. We go without so they can have.

We lift them up from each of their stumbles, encouraging them to try again. We tether them when they need to learn self-restraint. We are their biggest cheerleaders in life, and their voice of reason in the next breath.

Throughout their tears, anger and rebellions, we continue to love them through our actions and in our thoughts and words.

Patiently, we wait for them to grow beyond those rough stages. We are relieved when we see they are able to look back and know that what we did, was always done with love for them.

We remind ourselves when they push away from us, it's because we have raised them to be strong and confident children.

When they come back, heads down,needing our help -this is affirmation of their trust in our never ending love for them.

When they experience the pain from mistakes they've made, we learn to celebrate their growth from their experience and take heart in knowing it will make them stronger in the end.

When they apologize for pain they cause us, we take comfort in knowing they have learned sincerity from hearing our apologies over the years for our mistakes.

When they are hurting at the pain of others, while comforting them we are buoyed with pride in their display of empathy; knowing, in our house, they learned sensitivity to the needs of others.,

Each joyful experience in motherhood is usually countered by one as painful; mothers accept both equally. In a mother's wisdom she knows she grows stronger from the pain, only garnering the strength to be there again and again when her child needs her.

What is the gift given to mothers? Perhaps the gift is in the experience itself.

Those who answer to "Mom" receive the ultimate gift, the lifelong experience of knowing a true and pure love, a love that knows no boundaries and provides more strength than ever imagined. A Mother's Love is unparalleled.

If you don't know what true love looks like; look into the eyes of any mother.