The First Lesson

 

For nearly 70 years, I never heard her say, "You darn well BETTER love me! 

All I do for you? You BETTER!"

We're in a world that lacks what we all want. We want to be loved. Well, that's just my opinion. Nevertheless, I'm convinced that we're dismissing real connections in favor of 'likes'. 

Perhaps there is only one place to find unconditional love. We go to our mothers. 

It is no wonder this is true for most of us. A mother loves first, gives second, and never asks for anything in return. In a way, this is the first thing that a mother teaches. They devote themselves to giving whatever we need as children. And, interestingly enough, that does not stop when we become adults. It's called self-sacrificial love. 

What we do with this lesson is up to us. We already know that we can't demand that someone loves us. But we also know that if we treat another person well, there's a good chance that we can become friends. And when that happens, love grows. 

Whatever prevents us from practicing this first lesson in our daily lives is a mystery to me. We build a lot of walls for a lot of reasons, good and bad. But we have a choice. We can start to reach out - whenever we want to. It's really up to each of us. 

Just thinking out loud here, but I believe we can best honor mothers everywhere if we'd just learn and live out this very first lesson.

Happy Mother's Day to men and women everywhere who in some form or another, 

qualify for this extraordinary title. 

First posted May 12, 2019. I didn't know then that 
I had only one more year with her. 
Thank you for your love, Mom. Happy Mother's Day