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After reading my last blog, my mother emailed me and asked. “Are you sure you are my daughter?” She was asking because she has trouble understanding that she influenced my love of writing. It is true. She did contribute to that skill along with other skills possessed by myself and my siblings. But this question made me think about mothers and mothering in general.
Mothers come in all types and with many different abilities. My mother, for example, instilled in me the idea of independence. It is not independence just for survival. It was the concept of independence of ability and the belief that “You can do whatever you set your mind to do.” There was never any condition set upon it. I could have told her I would be an astronaut, an executive CEO of a business, anything. She would have said the same thing. This belief propelled me to eventually earn two doctoral degrees, become a professor, dean, and writer. But this blog is not about that. It is about mothers.
Mothers can by choice, or necessity, work full-time jobs. These moms instill independence and motivation. Their children can become excellent problem solvers and independent thinkers. Other mothers dedicate their lives to staying at home and they make a career of raising productive loving families. These children may learn excellent interpersonal skills that will help them to have empathy for others that will boost their success in all walks of life. Still, other mothers put careers first and instill achievement and self-sufficiency in their children.
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Then there are the “super mothers.” I know about these super moms because my daughter is one. A super mom is a mom when she does not have to be. This can include being a super mom because a mother raises children who are not hers. My daughter is a super mom because she fosters infants who, for one reason or another, cannot remain with their biological mothers. She is a foster mother of infants whose bodies may be withdrawing from drugs or grappling with recovery from neglect or abuse. She is the mom who is up all hours while the infants experience withdrawal, anxiety, or physical illness. She is an angel for those babies who need an angel more than anything.
Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat of the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all…” Proverbs 31:25-30
But one thing all mothers have in common is praying for the very best for their children. This never stops. As long as a mother is alive, she is praying for the best health, completely amazing welfare, all-encompassing safety, unbelievably wonderful relationships, strongest faith, and general well-being, for her children. Mothers whose children leave home for college, the military, a new job, or inter into a marriage, are all praying for their children. It never stops.
I often worry about and pray for my own children and their children. My children are adults, and their children soon will be. Embracing our faith keeps us strong and helps us to turn our worry about our children over to Him. Children raised in faith may be tested but will ultimately return to their faith. So, for now we all pray and give thanks for these many blessings of motherhood and families. We know that our children lives, and ours, are in His hands.
Train up a child in the way he should go, even when he is old, he will not depart from it Proverbs 22:6
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