Mother's day

As mother's day 2011 rapidly approaches I have been thinking a lot about my mom and mothers in general.  The Wikipedia definition of mother: is a woman who has conceived, given birth to, or raised a child in the role of a parent. It goes on to say that because of the complexity and differences of a mother's social, cultural and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother.  In my job I see lots of woman who have given birth to children, most of them I would not consider mothers.  My definition of mother has been shaped by the woman whom I call mom.  I will say this, I am biased, I believe my mother is the best!  So then here is my definition of mother as lived for me by my mom.  My mother is a woman who loves her Lord and follows his ways, she has raised me up to know my Lord and when I was twelve we were baptized together.  When times were tough my mother always put my needs before her own, I have always know as her child, I was the most important thing to her.  When I felt hurt and pain my mother was there with me to offer comfort and wisdom.  I learned young that if you had a owie there was nothing better then a mother's kiss to take away the pain.  As I grew and started making my own decisions it was my mom who walked beside me and at times if needed offered Godly wisdom to help correct when she saw I was going the wrong way.  As my children have been born, again my mother has been right there, helping teach me how to be a father.  With the birth of my kids mom added another role to her life - grandmother.  She did this without any effort, like she was created to be it.  I believe just that, my mother was created to be a mother, grandmother.  She is living out the love God has given her, and blessing others with her love.  So I guess this is how I define mother...little longer then Wikipedia.  I guess for me to define mother, would be to define love as the two are just about the same thing. Happy Mothers Day!     Rick