All of Me

Today has been a relaxing Mother’s Day in the midst of a marathon month of all kinds of end-of-the-school year activities!  I’ve appreciated a day with no plan except to play in the pool!  🙂  I’m in a season of life where simple is sacred and today was beautifully simple.  Mother’s Day is multidimensional for me…of course it’s a day to appreciate my own wonderful mother and be grateful for my mother-in-law who I genuinely love and respect…it’s also a day to remember the many “mother like” women in my life who have invested in me over the years and modeled what it means to be a woman of character and beauty…and, naturally, it has become a day for me to reflect on my own role as “mother” and the many ways I’m both blessed and challenged in that role.

From the very start of my journey as a mom, I’ve had the perspective that I am entrusted by God to care for the children I’ve been given for a season and that my investment has eternal significance.  Each of my children have enriched my experience with their own unique qualities and stretched me in ways I’m not sure I could be otherwise.  Rudy, of course, has stretched me in ways I couldn’t have ever imagined which serves to make me even more aware of what a gift they all are and what an honor it is to care for them…even on days when it’s hard and I’m uninspired.

Mother’s Day is also a day when my thoughts are with the dear women in my life who have lost a child…those who continue to navigate life with the heavy burden of a mother’s grief that may change shape over the years but is ever present…women for whom I am so grateful and through whom I have learned to see the beauty in every day of the journey for there is, indeed, beauty to see each and every day.

There has been a song on Christian radio the past couple of years called “All of Me” that has been a favorite song of mine for some time.  Ironically, it wasn’t until I really listened to the song recently that I realized it was about a child with a heart defect.  The song was written by Matt Hammitt whose son was born with HLHS three years ago and the song is about their bond.  It’s a beautiful song that so clearly expresses this mama’s heart…an appropriate reflection on Mother’s Day.  Click here Matt Hammitt’s “All of Me” to hear the song on youtube.

I’m sure grateful for the special mom/child moments we’ve shared the last couple of weeks…

I thank God for the honor of being Mom to Wilson, Max, Olivia and Rudy.  They’ve captured my heart and they have all of me…the good, the bad and, sadly sometimes, the ugly.  🙂  I pray by God’s grace they grow to be confident, faithful and joyful individuals who are self-aware and others-centered…and who know how very much they are loved.

Happy Mother’s Day dear friends.