Hopefully you took the time this past weekend to celebrate Mother’s Day. For many of us, our mothers are no longer with us, so instead of celebrating Mother’s Day, we remember the days we had with them.
Such is the case in my life. I lost my mom about seventeen years, she was sixty-five. To this day, it is the greatest loss I have ever experienced. I believe this is true because there is nothing like “a mother’s love”.
In my case, this was the kind of love that knew me fully and loved me anyway. When I think of her, I choose not to focus on having lost my mom, instead I choose to remember the love I have known.
Then as I assess life and how different it is not having her here, I look up and see my wife, who is the mother of my children. As I do, I see this same love being poured out in the way she loves our children.
I believe she understands how to love her children as my mom did, even after they have grown up and are building lives of their own.
Today, I see Bonnie loving our children with this same unconditional love I was loved with by my mom. It’s as if “a mother’s love” can withstand the loneliness and confusion of watching their children grow up and go out into this world without them.
This reminds us of what love is; you see, love, hopes all things, believes all things, and bears all things. This is a love without condition simply because the condition of the heart of the one loving this way is genuine, pure and without agenda.
The willingness to love like this is not only the way our Lord intended it to be, but also the way we all want and need to be loved!
“A mother’s love” is all this and more.
So, as we take a moment in the busyness of life to encourage the ones who have loved or are loving us in this way, I pray we do not forget to love them back.
Take the time to let your mother know she is loved; she is appreciated, and she is irreplaceable in your eyes. The willingness to do so takes very little effort and should be an outflow of the love we have been shown, and many times took for granted, ignored, or overlooked.
As I close, I want to tell the mother of my children how much I love her and how thankful I am for the kind of love she has not only shown them, but for the kind of love she has shown me in our life together.
Happy Mother’s Day Bonnie and to all the mothers who have given “a mother’s love” to their children, I can attest, your love has meant more than you can ever know!
2 Timothy 1:5, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your
So beautifully written about your mother and your precious wife, Bonnie. The picture of you and your mother is priceless. It tells all about the relationship you had with her. I too loved my mother in the same way who I am confident is now in Heaven. So as my earthly journey continues, I reach out to my Heavenly Mother, the Blessed Mother, who continues to draw me closer to her son Jesus - the source of all love.. She knows the “Way” providing us a safe passage, protecting us as any loving mother would do. Thank you John for sharing this post.
Patti