- “Best thing ever is…..when your children know the LORD and live for Him. Hardest, when one of your children calls you to tell you she has cancer.”
Mother’s Day is just a few days away. The reminders are everywhere: TV, radio, social media.
I posed these questions to my Facebook friends: What is the best part of being a mother? And what is the hardest part? With the permission of those brave mothers, I’m sharing their responses here. Brace yourself. They’re not all easy to hear.
For many, this holiday brings about a flood of emotion. Maybe this is your first Mother’s Day and you’re either expecting a baby or have just given birth to one.
Maybe your mother has long since left this earth and this is a day of looking back.
Maybe, like me, this day is bittersweet. I lost my mom 18 years ago. In fact, I was mourning her loss when I was expecting my first child. My first Mother’s Day as a (pregnant) mom was also my first Mother’s Day without my own mother. I spent that Mother’s Day church service sobbing: I’m sure a mix of grief and pregnancy hormones. So while I miss my mom dearly, I also celebrate the fact that I’m a blessed mom to two healthy, amazing children.
Perhaps this day is a painful reminder of the child you lost who isn’t here to honor you and you’d give everything you have for one more minute with that precious child.
To be a mother means being selfless, brave, and vulnerable.
It means loving unconditionally.
It means wearing many hats, sometimes at different times, and sometimes all at once.
It means you’re a teacher, confidante, disciplinarian, doctor, chauffeur, protector, defender, best friend, and maid.
It means knowing when to have a strong shoulder and when to have a soft one.
It means talking and it means listening.
It means holding on and letting go, sometimes at the same time.
To all the mothers everywhere, whatever your situation, you are beautiful and you are to be honored. Please spare a moment and honor the moms who helped me create this post and read their heart replies:
- “Best thing: getting to help my daughter grow into her amazing, unfolding personality and wondering what God has in store for her.
Hardest: always wanting to be my best around her, for her, and making the most of every stage. I love that aspect of motherhood, but the stretching, growing and utter dependence on God it requires is hard… Wonderful, and hard.” ~Courtney S. - “The best thing is the love. The love you get and the love you get to give.” ~ Grace
- “Best thing: Knowing I will always have a best friend. Hardest thing: Losing a child and longing to hold them again.” ~ Vicki R.
- “Best: Teaching them when they’re little (like a sponge absorbing everything). Hardest: Not being able to take away their pain.” ~Cynthia C-Z.
- “The best thing is getting to love them and be the one that nurtures them and prepares them for life. The hardest is the letting go of every precious stage and knowing that one day you’ll have to let them go into adulthood and they won’t need you as much.” ~Heather F.
- “There is just too much to try and pick one thing to be the best part of of being a mother. The hardest is not being able to to fix everything for them…heartache, physical pain, growing pains of life and all that it entails.” ~Delta W.
- “Best: Watching my boys develop their own personalities. Hardest: Parenting my boys as they develop their own personalities.” ~Stephanie S.
- “Best thing: Seeing your children marry Christians and want to serve God together and raise their children to love God.
Worst thing: Not being able to take away their pain.” ~Kathy K. - “The best and hardest is shaping your child into the man God wants him to be, knowing the trust and Faith he has in you.” ~Sharon S.
- “Best: Having all of them in one place for the day and just the love. Hardest: Letting them go and spread their wings.” ~Hope J.
- “Best thing ever is…..when your children know the LORD and live for Him. Hardest when one of your children calls you to tell you she has cancer.” ~Sharon A.
- “Hardest thing: not being their best friend, and telling them how I would react to certain things.
And the worst is seeing them hurt.
The best thing: 1)hearing that I’m the best mom in the world, let’s me know I’ve done something right, and that they are happy!
2) hearing I love you 10 times a day
3) my son bringing me a yellow wildflower. I just want to frame everyone of them!
4) being known from their friends as “Natalie’s Mom” or “Bradley’s mom”
5) having one of them come to me for advice.
6) knowing my kids are still little, and I have a little time still to relish in their 1st moments still left to come.
So many bests….” ~Amy A.
- “The best thing is seeing what wonderful people your children become and knowing you had something to do with that. The hardest thing is not being able to take away their pain. ~Debi P.
- “The best thing is watching them grow & the proud feeling I get when they accomplish new things; also hearing them say “I love you” out of the blue. The hardest thing is also watching them grow and having to let go & realize that I can’t be there to protect them from everything.” ~Julie W.
- “Worst: trying to get the kids to do what they are supposed to do without ARGUING. Best: watching them when they are doing something they love and work hard at, when your heart is so full of pride for them it could burst.” ~Amy K.
- “I think the best thing is watching your children develop. It is fun to see them discover who they are and what they want to be. The hardest part is when your children go through challenges in life that you can’t help them with.” ~Michele P.
- “The best thing about being a mother is the unconditional love. No matter if you tell them no they can not have something or make them do something they don’t want to do, they still have that love and want to cuddle with you. The hardest thing is not being able to fix them when they have an illness.” ~Leah W.
- “For me the best part is enjoying the day-to-day tender moments in sharing and building relationships. The hardest thing is feeling the weight of and fear of failure in the responsibility and role I play in another human being’s life.” ~Lisa D.
- “The best thing about being a mom is watching your children care for others without asking. For example, taking the time to make sure a child is ok and not feeling lonely or left out OR befriending a special needs child or holding the door for the person behind us…again without asking. These simple things make me feel like I am raising good people…gentlemen. The hard part about being a mom is seeing your children get hurt and letting them make mistakes.” ~Jennifer S.
For all the moms who’ve spent hours in labor or bear the scar of a C-section;
for the moms who suffer the unimaginable pain of mourning their child;
for the moms who tie shoes and wipe noses, run carpool and never miss a game, recital or play;
for the stepmoms, bonus moms, and mother figures.
for the moms who are dog-tired but still power through to meet everyone else’s needs;
for the moms at work and the moms at home;
for the moms fighting for their child’s life or the moms fighting for their own;
for the creative moms, the sporty moms, the proper moms, and the silly moms;
for the moms who clean and cook and run themselves ragged and it all often goes unnoticed;
for the moms who bear tiger stripes, saggy skin, and scars: the badges of motherhood;
for the moms whose arms are empty and for the moms whose arms are full;
for the moms who adopted her babies and for the moms who are waiting to;
for the women who pray to carry a child;
for the moms who work numerous jobs just to meet the needs of her children;
for the moms returning to school to make a better way for her family;
for the moms with high degrees and the moms with no degrees;
for the moms in luxury vehicles and the moms who ride the bus;
for the moms who love their children and would do anything in their power for them, this is for you.
You are loved, you are seen, you are appreciated. You do the impossible, your strength is admirable, you love fiercely, and you do the hardest and best job in the world by doing what you do best: being a mom.
