Loving Your Mother

I will be calling my mom in just a few minutes to say "Happy Mother's Day!"  It will mean so much more this year than in previous years.  I've come to realize just how precious life is...not that I haven't known this before, but after the this past season of my mom's life...I've learned it in a deeper way. 

• When you look at this picture of my mom, first notice the smile on her face.  What brought that smile? 
• Next notice she now has  one leg where there were two last mother's day, yet she is still smiling. 
• Just moments earlier she entered this room and had tears of joy stream down her face-she was surprised with a 90th birthday celebration.  She is 90...and she smiles.
  
• Think back to her journey up to this point...it was filled with surgeries and bouts of severe pain...yet she smiles.
• She has been a widow for many years, separated from the love of her life...yet she smiles!
• She is now in a Nursing Home...yet she smiles!
  

So what brings that smile to this mother's face?  That smile is brought because of who she is surrounded by in that picture, the reason she is called mother....her children.  (the flowers represent a child that could not be present). 

She is surrounded by her children and she knows beyond a shadow of a doubt that they love her.  They love her regardless of anything that has taken place in their raising.  They love her and respect her because she is the one that has loved and cared for them all of their lives.  She has shown them that you can endure the pain of loss - whether it be a spouse, a leg or the home that you have always known...you can be okay. 

Loving your Mother today is important, because it is a day set aside to love on them and let them know how much they mean to you.  But, don't love them just today, love them every day for the rest of your life, because life is precious.

I love you mom...you are the strongest woman I have ever known!

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