I hope your children told you on Mother’s Day how much they love you. I know that if they gave you carefully printed cards expressing their love, those cards meant the world to you. And if they made you breakfast in bed, or served you in some special way, I’m sure your heart rejoiced, as mine did when my children did these things for me.
All these things—the cards, the gifts, the acts of service—are ways your children express love to you. But I thought that this Mother’s Day, it might bless your heart to look at all the other things your children would say to you, if they could.
Things like, Thank you for not getting mad when I spilled my milk all over the table and it dripped onto the floor. Instead of shaming me, you said, “These things happen,” and you helped me clean it up.
Or like, The other day, when I was sick, it was great to get to lie on the couch and watch movies. But the best thing of all was when you sat by me and stroked my forehead. Thank you.
Or Somehow, just when I’m running out of things to wear, clean clothes magically appear in my dresser drawers. I don’t know how that happens, but I bet you have something to do with it. Thank you…
Thank you for letting me crawl in bed with you in the middle of the night when I had a nightmare. When I’m scared, your arms are the place I most want to be…
Thank you for making my meals even when you were sick, because Daddy was at work and you knew I couldn’t do it myself. How would I eat if it weren’t for you?…
Thank you for teaching me the same things over and over, until I could master them…
The other day, you bought me new summer clothes, even though it meant that you didn’t get to buy yourself any. I’m grateful…
Thank you for potty training me. That’s got to be one of the most frustrating parts of parenting. But you stuck with me…
Thank you for cleaning up the same messes over and over again, sometimes only 30 seconds after you cleaned them up the first time…
Thank you for all those visits to the doctor and the ER, to make sure I stayed healthy…
Thank you for all the sleep, money, and free time you sacrificed so that I could have what I needed…
Thank you for taking me to the park, and pushing me endless times in the swing, because I begged, “More!”…
Thank you for teaching me how to be a good friend, and how to react when my friends aren’t good to me…
Thank you for that special smile that makes something inside me feel warm, fuzzy, and loved…
Thank you for being proud of me, and for showing it…
For putting my stick-figure drawings up on the refrigerator…
For all those times you did my hair…
For all those times you called me your handsome “little man”…
For all those birthday parties and Christmas presents and just-because celebrations…
For praying with me and for me, and for teaching me to pray…
For all those times you loved me more than you loved yourself…
For all the pictures you took of the special moments in my life…
For changing all my diapers…
For loving me well, even when I act wrongly…
For all the ways you’ve shown me who God is and how much He loves me, by the way you pour out your life for me…
I love you beyond words. I don’t know what I’d do without you. As far as I’m concerned, you’re the greatest mom in the world. I know it bothers you that you’re not perfect. But it doesn’t bother me. Nobody’s perfect, Mommy. But you’re perfect to me.
These are the things your children would say to you if they could. But they don’t understand these things. They don’t know how to put what they feel into words.
Instead, they make you carefully printed cards and serve you breakfast in bed.
But they’re saying the same thing.
Proverbs 31:27-28a—[The excellent mom] looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed. (ESV)