A Day for Mothers

It's that time again!  The time we shop, I mean stop for a moment and thank our moms, and allow our families to thank us.  It can be a sentimental day, a simple holy day of thanks and awareness... a day where family comes together and rejoices in the grace that God has given us to take part in creation in a way that makes us aware of His unending love for us.  But unfortunately, it's become a holiday that definitely needs a Charlie Brown Special inspiring us to get back to the basic truth of the sacredness of motherhood and what it is we are actually honoring.

True Motherhood

Like love and marriage, motherhood is hard to explain to someone who hasn't experienced the it.  Whether you gave birth and cared for your child, gave birth and offered your child for adoption or accepted the awesome responsibility to care for a child, you know that words could never convey the intensity that is motherhood.  Even if you conceived a child but weren't able to give birth, you know the awesomeness that carrying another soul in your womb means.  You also know that no gift could ever compare in value to thank you enough because in your heart you know that motherhood in itself is a gift you are thankful for. 

 

Happy 100th Birthday!  Mother's Day!

Since the 1920's the holiday created to honor mothers quickly turned into another opening for marketers to tell you how this bracelet (or that flower arrangement) is the only way to let your mom know you are thankful. I read recently (via facebook) that Anna Jarvis, who worked to establish Mother's Day in 1914 later put all her effort into stopping it when she realized it had become a commercialized "holiday" for florists and vendors... and not the day of sentiment she had hoped for.  It only took 6 years for restaurants and florists to find a way to capitalize on the day and to put gratitude in a well wrapped box.   

So, in order to return this holiday to a moment of sentiment, I want to share this quote from the St. Anna's Retreat in Dumont, CO.  The plaque is mounted near a mosaic icon of St. Anna embracing her daughter, the Virgin Mary. 

 

 

In this beautiful world,

There is nothing more cherished,

No duty more honorable,

No responsibility more sacred,

No task more difficult,

Than that of Motherhood.