What Makes a Mother?

What does it take to be a mother? What, indeed, makes a woman a mother? Is it the baths she gives, the mouths she feeds, the nights she lays awake with a baby? Is is the hours of labor, is it the clothes she picks up, is it the meals she makes?

I believe a mother's job begins while the babe is in the womb. I believe the beginning is when that first smile is created at the thought of life within. It is a mother's heart that begins to beat when you first feel the beat within. It is the mother who lies awake at night, rubbing the belly and letting thoughts wonder as to who it is that is within. It is the mother that eats for two and begins to walk, drive and live with a bit more caution for she knows the sacred life that lays within.

And what of the mother whose job ends at that first hello? What to say then to that mother who births to bury her first young one........

What to say when hearts are breaking and tears are falling, how to repair that mother's heart?

What to say when the father calls to tell you the news and tells of His Father's love that is holding them strong? He tells of a peace that can only come from above and not from any earthly realm. His voice breaks but there is a strength and a power there that is far beyond anything I have known. It is a father's voice. It is the voice of one who knows, one who knows the love of a Father.

I am in awe of these parents - this mother and father who choose to bring their sweet daughter into this world so that they may hold her and love her and know her before sending her on to her Father.

They are a mother and father - they have protected and loved and known this child. They have created a home for her and are sending her on to her final home wrapped in love and peace.

One day I hope to be as strong and faithful and prayerful as this mother is tonight.