A Rose

How is that such a beautiful flower can exist on the end of such a thorny stem? Mother's Day immediately brings to my mind a rose. This thought might enter my mind because my mom loves rose bushes. That was the traditional gift for my grandmother on Mother's day, not a dozen roses but a rose bush. But today the rose came to mind because motherhood is a lot like a rose. It is amazingly beautiful and fragrant, but it can be awfully thorny. I was pondering the fragrant moments from this week. Mika told me I was her best friend. Benji came into the kitchen at 10pm and saw the mess from my baking and said, "Tomorrow, I will help you clean that up after breakfast." After reading How do Dinosaurs Say Goodnight? (for the thousandth time!), Malaki said, "How do Malaki's say goodnight? They kiss their mama's." The thing about motherhood is that it is also thorny. There are days when I don't want to have to discipline one more time, there are times when I am tired and can't listen to more chattering (good and bad) and there are times when to be honest I want to go back to bed and start all over again. But the reality is that without thorns there is not a beautiful floweer and so I must take the thorns with the beautifully fragrant flower.

Happy Mother's Day to the most important mom's in my life, thank yo ufor being willing to experience the thorns to get the flower! Happy Mother's Day Mom, there is a rose bush waiting in Kearney for you, thank you for instilling me with a love for my kids, and my husband and be such an amainzing model of a mom that is passionately pursuing her heavenly Father. Barb, Happy Mother's Day to my husband's mother and the grandmother of my children, it was all the thorns you expereienced that lead to me receiving the greatest husband ever. Happy Mother's Day, Janelle, I am praying daily that you feel like you are riding on the wings of eagles and yet feel the joy of living in the shadow of our Father's wings. I cried this morning as I thought of Jonathan, being in Iraq. I know that God is his protector, as well as yours. And finally, Happy Mother's Day to my Grandma! Rarely do I complete a daily chore or finish creating a meal without realizing that I learned so many of these skills from you. Today, I will work on my garden and think of the many times that I wandered in your garden and all that you taught me about tending a garden.