There is this gift that God gives to every mother. It’s beautifully wrapped in a blanket of love and when it is opened, a garden of flowers grows in your heart.
Each year you tend it. You love it. You pull out the weeds and nourish the soil. And the beautiful flowers fill your heart to abundance. Your hands hold that beautiful bouquet, but you don’t truly realize how beautiful it was until one day you look down and your hands are empty. The garden is gone, and all you have left are the flowers that you pressed close against your heart. It’s a garden that blooms for only a short moment in time. That precious time between the innocence of childlike wonder, and the sad realization of wrong in our world. It’s a bouquet of unconditional love. Of eyes that see the best in you. Of little hands that need you. Always. Of love that snuggles deep into your soul and believes you can do no wrong, even when you feel like you are doing everything wrong. You are mama and you are the best. And when I see it in the eyes of my grandchildren when they look at their own mama, my eyes fill with tears. My heart whispers, hold these flowers. Stop and smell them. Bask in their beauty. Because it will fade. And you will realize that in the busyness of raising them, you missed how truly beautiful your garden was. Oh what a love our children have for us for a moment. Soon they are too big. Too grown up to snuggle into us and tell us how much they love us. The bond of love remains, but the garden of innocence in believing we can do no wrong soon fades. I thought on this as I watched my youngest grandchild when her mama walked through the door. The happiness in her eyes lit up the entire room, like sunshine beaming from her tiny heart. “No one else loves you like that” I thought. I pondered it all evening, but I realized I was wrong. Because I love my daughter like that. I love my children like that. Unconditionally, sacrificially, fiercely. I tend, I pray, I water, I weed with words of wisdom when asked, but my love is unconditional. There is nothing my child could do that would ever make me stop loving them. And the thought made my heart hurt a bit, because it made me miss my own mom. But then, God in all His tenderness wrapped his arms around my hurting heart and whispered. “I love you like that Charisse. Just like that.” And I thanked Him. I thanked Him for allowing me to be a mother. I thanked Him for my Mother and I thanked Him for His tenderness and unconditional love toward me. Because when I see that love reflected in my grandchildren’s eyes as their mama comes through the door, I know there is no greater feeling. And I press those flowers close to my heart. Flowers from a garden God planted many, many years ago. Hold on to that beautiful bouquet mama. It’s a precious gift. And as each flower fades, press those flowers close against your heart. A heart that will always remember the beautiful gift God gave you for a moment. A picture of His eternal love. A bouquet that never fades. “The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.” Jeremiah 31:3 “For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.” Romans 8:38-39 “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you.” Isaiah 66:13 |
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