Ode to a Mother’s Love, Wisdom and Care

Photo by Sue Zeng on Unsplash

My wife and I argued recently. To be honest, I upset her with something I said, and, though I knew it in the moment, I allowed conflict to ensue, not that she fought. She simply protected herself, which she had every right to do, giving me time to reflect. I soon apologised, and we moved on.

But as I reflected, I discovered something about my wife that is generally true of all women, and I feel led to share that, particularly in the light of Mother’s Day.

Now what I’m about to share is a generalisation, meaning it doesn’t apply in every circumstance, but it certainly applies with the women and mothers I’ve been close to. Sure, some women have the greater capacity to hurt, but my experience is that most women are the polar opposite — they’re more prone to being hurt.

As I think about it, the women I’ve been close to have been unifiers, not that the men have not been.

There is something that sets our women apart as the nurturers of our humanity, as peacemakers within the turbulence of family, as gentle voices of reason when anger spills over into violence. God must say, ‘Just please listen to this sensible voice.’

Mothers are a blessing:
their love they share,
their needs they spare,
our burdens they bear,
they mediate to be fair,
justice they dare,
pain they wear,
their souls they bare,
they’re beyond compare,
because they care.

As I ponder mothers, I know their love is an authentically faithful truth they exemplify from their heart, and they hold nothing back in the extension of it.

Mothers go without and are prepared to do so for their family. They give fathers both the courage and license to endure the tough thing.

They bear our burdens no matter the price tag that comes with it, and that often leads them to a place of the exhaustion.

They see through the veil and mediate a kind of fairness that many men cannot readily see.

They’re willing to forego their own comfort to do justice, for they see no sense in vanity for pleasure when the powerless are torched.

For this, it’s pain they wear, reminiscent of the pain of birth pangs of labour they suffer, for which they endured for the promise of embryonic completion and familial progress.

They trust their vulnerability to us in the unifying goal adding strength to our weakness.

For these reasons they truly are beyond compare.

Because they care.

And yet,
because they care so much,
they bear the brunt of many unfair things,
their needs, many times, go unmet,
their pain receives no recompense,
and our burdens that we add
continue to be carried.

May all women and mothers today and all days be blessed
may peace and unity follow them and be their blessed rest
may they enjoy the fruit of their love,
and may favour be theirs from God above.