It's almost Mother's Day, and so I've been pondering ways I can convey to my mother the depth
of gratitude I feel for those great and numberless tasks she performed for my
good when I was a child, not to mention her continual influence still shaping
my thoughts and actions today. My mother has given me much by making sacrifices beyond my comprehension. She means the world to me.
The truth is, I have a wonderful mother.
The truth is, not everyone can say those words.
I know people who ignore the holiday entirely. Some rehearse a
mental list of faults possessed by the woman they call mother. Still
others wonder around this time who their mother is....or was.....if only they
could have been blessed to know her. Despite our varied differences and
attitudes about Mother's Day, there is one thing we share in common—one
precious truth for which we can show our gratitude regardless. And that
is this:
Our mothers—apart from their strengths and defects, their successes and
failures, their good and bad behavior, and even their mental, emotional, or physical absence or overbearing attentiveness—gave us the miraculous, valuable, precious gift of life.
Miraculous because we could never have bestowed it upon ourselves.
Valuable because of the endless opportunities and experiences it affords
us.
Precious because we have but one.
So regardless of blame, faults, and flaws, remember you were given life
by a woman.
You breathe.
You feel.
You see
and hear
and smell
and taste
and think
and move
and laugh
and weep
and heal
and dance
and sing
and love.
Thank your mother.
