Mothers are unique. They are not born. They become. Some take to the job better than others, but there’s nothing like a great mom. Nature shows us some extreme examples of motherhood. The African cichlid holds her eggs in her mouth two weeks until they hatch- at which time she keeps the babies safe in her mouth for two more weeks. Everyone knows a mother bear is one of the most fearsome mammals on earth. You can put that claim to the test by making a momma bear feel her babies are in jeopardy. I just hope you can outrun her if you do that.

I love to celebrate Mother’s Day. I am blessed to be able to celebrate with my own mother. For several years I lived too far away to see her on Mother’s Day. I remember that first holiday away from her. I pretty much cried the whole day. So now I enjoy being able to honor her and do special things for her up close and personal on this day.

Of all the things I have done in my life, my greatest joy has been to mother. I had no idea what I was doing in those early days. There are plenty of books out there on the subject, but each baby is unique, and what might work for other babies, won’t likely get yours to sleep, or stop crying, or cure that rash, or make her eat her veggies, or make him stop biting his classmates, or whatever. Each child is its own individual… individual! The Lord gives them to the one mother who can sing their song, feel their heart, sense their needs, and read their uniqueness. I know my children like no other person here on Earth. Only their Heavenly Father knows them better

A good mother will happily lay down her own wants for those of her children. As mine have grown and matured some, I have been blessed to see them grow up in their relationships with their God. I see Him moving in their lives. Opening doors, closing some, too. I see them seeing Him move in their lives. I see them following after Him, listening for Him, and walking with Him. The joy of it all makes me literally laugh out loud sometimes. I realized one day not too long ago, that I am happier even to see Him working in their lives than when He’s at work in my own.

I used to say that the jury was still out on my kids when people would compliment or say positive things. Someone might say something nice about one or another of them, but I hesitated to accept those accolades for them. I know what a narrow way the Narrow Way really is. To step off of it is so easy. I was afraid to get too braggy about my kids, lest I become prideful only to see them misstep. (Pride does so often goeth before a falleth.) But I look at my children differently these days. I understand that while I have loved them with a mad, crazy kind of mother cichlid/bear kind of love, what they have become, and who they are as people, has much more to do with their Heavenly Father.

No, I don’t think the jury is still out on them. There’s not a “bad apple” in the bunch. I say that humbly, knowing that apart from the Father, Matthew and I could be looking at a very different picture. But because of Him I am blessed four times over.

Being a mother is exhausting. When my four were little, I used to say it was like a daycare at my house, only no one ever went home. Being a mother can be frustrating, even infuriating, but it can be equally fulfilling and satisfying.

These yahoos are mine for only a short while. Sooner than I like to think about, I’ll have to spit them out of my mouth for good. And if I am lucky, I’ll see them spend their lives loving mercy, acting justly, and walking humbly with their God. (Micah 6:8)

Now that makes me smile on this Mother’s Day! This video does too! Enjoy!