Mother’s Path of Life

In honor of Mother’s Day.

In giving loving consideration to the strategic role of mothers, evaluate this parody. It gives all the greater reason to honor mothers. 

“Is the way long?” she asked. Her guide answered, “Yes, and the way is hard. You will be old before you reach the end of it, but the end will be better than the beginning.”

The young mother was happy and she could not believe that anything could be better than these years. So, she played with her children and gathered flowers for them along the way. She played with them in the clear streams as the sun shone on them and life was good.

The young mother said, “Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.”

Then night came, and a storm, and the path was dark and the children shook with fear in the cold. The mother drew them near and reassured them with her love. The children said, “Oh, mother, we are not afraid, for you are near and no harm can come to us.”

Then the mother said, “This is better than the brightest of days for I have taught my children courage.”

Then came the morning. There was a hill ahead and as the children climbed they grew weary and so did their mother, but she said to her children, “A little patience and we are there.” So the children climbed. When they reached the top they said, “We could not have done it without you, mother.”

And the mother said, “This is a better day than the last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of difficulty. Yesterday I gave them courage, today I have given them strength.”

The next day came strange clouds that darkened the earth – clouds of hate, bitterness, and evil – and as the children groped and stumbled the mother said, “Look up. Lift your eyes to the light.” The children looked and saw above the clouds The Everlasting Glory of God. He guided them and brought them beyond the darkness.

That night the mother said, “This is the best day of all, for I have shown my children God.”

The days went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old, and she was a little bent. The children were now tall and strong and straight and walked with courage. When the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and golden gates flung open wide.

The mother said, “I have reached the end of my journey. Now I know that the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children after them.”

The children said, “You will always walk with us, mother, even when you have gone through the gates.”

The children stood and watched her as she went on alone and the gates closed after her. They said, “We cannot see her, but she is with us still. A mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living Presence.”

“…do not despise your mother when she is old” (Proverbs 23: 22).

Thanks to all worthy moms and Happy Mother’s Day.

I want to pay tribute to two moms, the one who gave me birth and the one who gave our children birth.