Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day. I'm not one to make a big fuss over Mother's Day or Father's Day... or many other days that the greeting card industry, the flower industry, and the chocolate industry love. (Okay, the secret's out! I'm a grinch!)

I do, however, plan to spend some time with my mother and with different members of my family today, and I am thankful to have them nearby. And I do plan to give my mother some roses... but no card.














On Mother's Day, my thoughts often turn to motherhood - being a mother - and on the totally new perspective on life that having a child (and becoming a mother) gave to me.

I had never given much thought to people being born, or how amazing an event that is, until my first child was born. Experiencing the miracle - where there was no person, now there was a very real, very active (and at times very demanding) person - that was a phenomenal experience for me. Where there was no one, now there was someone I loved so much I would risk my own life to protect that little person...

The world became a different place for me. I remember walking down the street and thinking, as people walked by - You were born, and you were born, and you were once a new little baby... I looked at every person as a miracle.

I am still reminded of that sometimes, often in the most unlikely circumstances - like when I see a dusty someone sitting on the sidewalk asking for a handout: You were once a baby - just like all sweet, innocent babies... wrapped and held in someone's arms...You were a miracle of birth...

So for me, Mother's Day is a day of appreciation - not only for the people who have enriched my life and continue to enrich it - but for the gift of seeing the world in a different way... (Is this a glimpse of the way God sees it?)

For this is one of the most profound and surprising gifts that motherhood gave to me.