To Mothers

I am not a mother, so I am not going to try to say I know how you feel.  Clearly, I don't.  But I do know a few things.  I know that the efforts you put in every minute of every day matter.  I know that you do and will make mistakes, but that as long as you love with all your heart and do your best you are and will be a wonderful mother (and please don't use "your best" as a stick to beat yourself with--be kind and reasonable to and with yourself).  I know that your children will appreciate you and do appreciate you more than you know.  I know that you are your children's first experience and primary example of what love is.  I know it isn't always pretty, and I know that sometimes you want to give up and it seems like your children would be better off in other hands, but I know that's not true.  You have been chosen for the children in your care.  Keep going.  Turn to those who love you when you're frustrated or sad or lonely or just depleted--and know that there are many who love you.  If you're reading this, know that I love you.  You are NOT alone.  I know that you have a Heavenly Father who loves you and who longs for you to turn to Him and who can comfort you in ways that I cannot.  Try to find the humor and the fun in it all.  See the "poetry in the prosaic," as my friend, Daryl, and my brother, Brad's magazine, Seeing the Everyday, says.  A little conversation over lunch or playing trucks may mean more than you will ever know.  My mother is, by all accounts, incredible, but she did it a moment at a time--a hug, a song, a silly voice, a moment when she realized that letting us "help" was more important than getting a chore done quickly, or at all.  Bask in the moments that make you think it all goes by too fast, because it does.  Know that your children will look to you and remember you and follow you, and don't be afraid of that, because every day you do more and are better than you think.  I am so grateful for mothers--my own, my friends' mothers, all the mothers around me, and everyone with a "mother heart."  Love is hard sometimes, but hang in there, and take this post as a big hug from me and a vote of confidence, especially when you lack confidence in yourself.  You can do this.  You already are.  I love you all. <3, Heather