The Flog – The Fabry Log

A few thoughts about mom on Mother’s Day. And I’m speaking specifically to moms of grown kids, but this could be for any mom.

When you were given the task of raising a child, you had no idea what that would entail. You had no idea what long hours it would take when your child became sick. You had no idea what it would do to you and your body. Even if you did have an idea from all the reading you did, it still affected your life tremendously to give birth to this little one, or two, or more.

But you did it willingly because you knew there was something good ahead. In a lot of ways you sacrificed what you could have had in the short run, for the long term. You gave up some of the dreams you had, for the dream of nurturing someone else.

And when the diapers and bottles and pacifiers and pediatrician appointments were over, there came skinned knees and little league and ballet, trips to the library, trips to school, sleepovers, countless loads of laundry, countless nights when the only thing that would comfort your little one was to sit on your lap while you rocked back and forth, not counting the cost of the sleeplessness, but counting on God to do his work through this little one.

You thought it was hard having that baby. You had no idea how hard that first parting would be, whether it was the church nursery or kindergarten or something else. And it was then that you knew that what this child had cost you was much more than money, much more than frustration or sleep, this child had cost you your heart.

Still, you forged ahead, you gave and gave some more, knowing you’d have to let this little one make some decisions you probably didn’t agree with. When it was time for high school and college, a little piece of you went with that child, a little bit more of your heart.

They say the key to winning is knowing how to lose. That may be the best description of mom I know. You’ve lost so much in these years, you’ve lost your free time to do what YOU want to do, you’ve lost your energy, you’ve lost a little bit of your figure, (of course) you’ve lost so much. But with all that losing, the flip side is that you’ve given your heart. And when you give your heart to someone else, you and they are never be the same.

There will probably be a bunch of people who will look at you this Sunday and say Happy Mother’s Day. But I hope there is at least one person who will acknowledge the loss and the time and effort and the heart that went into all that it means to be a mother. And that you’ve had this great loss, not to lament before the world, but to celebrate. Because being a mom means loving with everything in you. And losing is part of the plan.

Just ask your own mother.