What does being a mother mean to you?

Tweet

There was a thread recently on motherhood as a job, and that caused me to reflect on what exactly being a mother means to me. To me, there is so much that goes into being a mother. I'm often reminded of the quote from The Crow in which he states "Mother is the name of God on the lips and hearts of all children". To me, being a mother is about being a guide, a friend, a mentor, a companion, and fellow being for my child. I think what I've learned this year through my studies is the realization that my children aren't mine. They are their own person. They will be their own person. I am but a facilitator in their growth and journey in this life and they never really belonged to me, but were given to me for protection and growth. They are not mine to fill with my own life, my own thoughts, or my own deeds. They are their own person, with their own thoughts, and their own journeys to take. Taking the ego out of the equation was the best thing I did in my relationship with my children. Being a mother to me is about being able to be all things with little expectation and little need. I recall as a child hearing the stories of how the Christ's mother Mary would keep things in her hearts, and I never fully understood that until I was a mother. A mother who cares for her children will not expect that anything from their children. They will not have feelings of hurt if a birthday is not remembered because our children are not to be these things for us. We are not to gain life in those ways from our children. We are not to hold it over our children's heads stating how they never call us, they never remember us, etc. We are to be happy in their journey of life and support them in this. These are the things I think of when I think of what it means to be a mother. It is a selfless path we can choose to take as women. We can choose to give our children the path that helps them grow and helps them through this life journey.