A Mother's Walk
The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long way/" she asked
And the guide said, "Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning."
But the young mother was happy and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, gathered flowers for them along the way and bathed them in the clear streams. And when the sun shone on them, the young mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."
Then the night came, and the storm. The path was dark, the children shook with fear and cold. But the mother drew them close, covered them with her mantle, and the children said, "Mother, we are not afraid. Because we know, as long as you are near, no harm can come."
Then the morning came. There was a hill ahead, so the children climbed and grew weary and the mother was weary. But she kept telling the children, "A little patience and we are there."
So the children climbed and when they reached the top they said, "Mother, we would not have done it without you."
When night came again, the mother lay down and looked up at the stars and said, "This is a better day than the last. My children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage. Today I have given them strength."
The next day, strange clouds came and made the earth so darkened. Clouds of war and hate and evil. The children groped and stumbled but the mother said to them, "Look up, lift your eyes to the light." The children looked and saw above the clouds, an everlasting glory that guided them beyond the darkness.
That night the mother said, "This is the best day of all, for today I have shown my children God."
As the days went on, along with the weeks, months and years, the mother grew old and was little and bent. But her children were tall, strong and walked with courage. When the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was as light as a feather. Then they came to a hill, beyond it they could see a shining road and golden gates flung open wide.
The mother told her children, "I have reached the end of my journey. Now I know the end is better than the beginning, because my children can walk alone and their family after them."
The children said to her, "You will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the gates." Then they stood by and watched her as she went on alone and the gates closed after her. Then they said, "We cannot see her but she is with us still. A mother like ours is more than a memory... she is a living presence."
Your mother is always with you... she's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the street. She's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks. She's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well.
Your mother lives inside your laughter. She's crystalized in every tear drop. She's the place you came from, your first home.... and she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your first heartbreak and nothing on earth can separate you... not time...not space... not even death!
author: Temple Bailey.
HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!
