Mother's Day Gifts

Mother’s Day Gifts

                I raised 6 children and loved a few extra, too. I have 17 grandchildren. Two daughters still live at home with us. That’s a lot of people to mother and love. And on Mother’s Day, I always weigh my worth, my value, my success in life by them. My life centered around them as I raised them, homeschooled them, prayed for them, and tried to support them. I cannot look at how I spent my time without thinking of them. But God calls me His child and my worth comes from that, not what I did or did not do.

                While my head knows this, my heart gets caught up in their responses. I wait for greetings from them. I look for their calls or visits. I thrill at their gifts, not because I want gifts, but because then I know they remembered me.

                Not all of my children have a relationship with me. Not all of them want to come home and spend time with me. That hurts, especially on Mother’s Day. My dreams of a big, loving family didn’t come true. We don’t always get what we want.

                But sometimes we get infinitely more than we hoped for. I have 2 daughters I never expected to have, born late to me at age 35 and 44! They are gifts to us, proof of God’s love, grace, and mercy. They bring me joy every day. Also, my husband loves me well. He strives to show me love in so many ways. Mother’s Day always means breakfast in my corncrib gazebo that he built for me. He has a fire in my chiminea, tea made, fruit cut up, and a gift for me. Every single Mother’s Day! We go to church together and are blessed to sit with 3 of my grandchildren. Sunday school provided flowers for the students to give to their mothers, so my youngest daughter brought me one. But then my granddaughter brought me hers. I was so blessed. After church, we had planned on lunch out and had a wonderful buffet. We stopped to buy some gardening supplies, too.

                But before we went in to eat, my husband and daughters gave me an envelope. It had a bow on it and they said, “This gift is given to you because we all believe in you. We have faith in you.” I was almost afraid to open it. When I did, I saw that they had registered me for a writer’s retreat. I am not a writer, maybe a wannabe writer. I never found the time to finish anything. Only once did I have a magazine article published. But they wanted to give me back my dream, a dream I had given up on. They wanted me to pursue my passion if I wanted to. I was stunned. I was overwhelmed. I was intimidated. So I cried. I was so touched. Yet it scared me. Now I feel like I should be writing again. But I am not sure I can. Yet the gift of their belief in me is invaluable to me.

                I received greetings from a few of my kids, a donation in my name to a pro-life organization, and a hanging basket of flowers. We had friends over for a relaxing bonfire and food and fellowship.  It was a good day. I missed my mom and my mother-in-law. I mourned the relationships that are not good. But the gifts of Mother’s Day that I will cherish are love, hope, faith, fellowship, grace, forgiveness, and each person who expresses those things to me. These are the gifts we cherish every day, but were shown to me again in new ways on Mother’s Day.