A Mother’s Day Poem
….read to the end, it will be worth it!
Blog – 5-4-16
“My Mom and my siblings – Christmas 2015”
Anna Jarvis is probably a woman you’ve never heard of, yet we have Anna to thank for what we officially celebrate this Sunday … Mother’s Day. Following her own mother’s death in 1905, Anna believed that we should have a day where we officially honor the sacrifices mothers make for their children. There had been various celebrations of this in the past, but Anna wanted to make it an official holiday and have it added to the national calendar.
Part of what drove Anna was she felt that American holidays were biased toward male achievements (go Anna!). She started a massive letter-writing campaign to newspapers and politicians to get Mother’s Day listed as an official holiday. By 1912 many states, towns, and churches had adopted Mother’s Day as an annual holiday, and Anna had established the Mother’s Day International Association to help promote her cause. For nine years Anna was persistent, and her efforts paid off in 1914 when president Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day.
It’s interesting to note that Anna never had children of her own – she never got to experience the very thing she worked so hard to celebrate.
As we celebrate Mother’s Day, I can’t help but reflect on my own mom and my experience as a mother. It’s truly the best job on earth … and the hardest job on earth! I am incredibly grateful for my own mom, a woman who gave everything to her family. She was a stay-at-home mom who has devoted and continues to devote her entire life to her family. She is the picture of unselfishness and love.
Of course, I haven’t always felt this way about her. There were those nasty teen years when I thought I knew everything and she knew nothing at all! I was sure she was the meanest mother on the face of the planet and she just didn’t understand me!
Oh, how my own children have paid me back for those years ((smile))!
It’s funny how time changes our view, puts things into proper focus. My mom wasn’t perfect, no mother is, but she was an incredible example of what Anna wanted to celebrate, the sacrifices mothers make. I know until the day she leaves this earth, Mom will put our needs before her own, will love us unconditionally, and will model God’s grace.
I hope I can do the same for my boys.
I also can’t help but think about the woman reading this who has not been blessed by the gift of motherhood, the precious Sister who has struggled with something that is so natural for so many.
I have been there, my friend! I am a barren woman who was blessed with the gift of motherhood through adoption and marriage. I have felt firsthand the pain that Mother’s Day brings to that empty womb. Know that you will be in my thoughts and prayers on Sunday.
Wherever you are on this spectrum of motherhood, whether in the midst of the sleep-deprived toddler years, trying to navigate the mood swings of the teen years, dealing with an empty nest, or mourning an empty womb, my prayer is that you will recognize and celebrate all that our mothers have done and sacrificed to make us who we are today.
Here’s a little poem I wrote in honor of the day. I know it’s rather sappy, but I send it out with love to my Mom, Elaine!
Hugs and love,
~Jill