Mother’s Day is this Sunday. We all have a Mother! It’s time to celebrate. Unfortunately, many take both Mother, and Mother’s Day for granted. We all have, as children growing up. This could be doubly true this year when we are all dealing with some sort of quarantine. But Mother’s Day is more than just a Sunday to send flowers to Mom. Mother’s Day is a memorial that serves as just a fleeting moment of the year to show honor and due reverence to one we love so dear. It’s only one day, and not nearly enough.
How it all started
For Ana Maria Jarvis, the Civil War was far from civil. Eight of her twelve children had been baptized in tears of grief. It didn’t seem fair that a mother should outlive so many children, yet she did. In doing so, Ana left a legacy that was adopted and championed by an unmarried daughter who shared her mother’s name.
In 1905, the younger Ana would baptize her mother’s grave in her own tears and begin a quest to bring attention to the incredible gift of mothering. Two years later, Ana Jarvis sought to have Mother’s Day recognized on a national level. The second Sunday in May was the second anniversary of the death of Ana’s mother so this was a logical choice for Jarvis.
Ana lobbied politicians to accept the notion of a day set aside to honor mothers. By 1911 the day was celebrated in almost every state in the union. The tradition did not stop in America either. This special holiday is now recognized in many countries around the world.
More than a century has passed since the mother of inspiration passed away, and yet it is her legacy that is reflected in the admiration of multiple generations for the tradition of motherhood.
A look back
It’s possible to become so caught up in our own worlds that we forget the moments in childhood when our jelly-stained hands would reach for mom’s and we’d gaze into her eyes wondering why we couldn’t marry her or how much we wanted to be like her when we grew up.
Should you be able to take the second Sunday in May to personally express your appreciation for your Mother, be sure to take along a special gift that says you care. Then, consider investing some of your time with your mom. Grab her hand and look into her eyes and allow yourself to recapture the wonder of childhood. You’re in the midst of greatness.
We owe a debt of gratitude to Ana Jarvis for her persistent call for a day to honor the esteemed calling of motherhood. I think Ana would agree that, when it comes to motherhood, a lifetime is not nearly enough time to say thanks.
Favorite Quotes on Mother’s Day
Mother’s Day quotes abound. That fact alone signifies the love and respect society holds for Mothers. Here are a few of my favorite quotes for, by and about Mothers:
Abraham Lincoln
“No man is poor who has a Godly mother.” ― Abraham Lincoln
Adriana Trigiani
“I like it when my mother smiles. And I especially like it when I make her smile.” ― Adriana Trigiani, Viola in Reel Life
Barbara Kingsolver
“A mother’s body remembers her babies-the folds of soft flesh, the softly furred scalp against her nose. Each child has it’s own entreaties to body and soul.” ― Barbara Kingsolver
Betty Smith
“It’s come at last,” she thought, “the time when you can no longer stand between your children and heartache. When there wasn’t enough food in the house you pretended that you weren’t hungry so they could have more. In the cold of a winter’s night you got up and put your blanket on their bed so they wouldn’t be cold. You’d kill anyone who tried to harm them – I tried my best to kill that man in the hallway. Then one sunny day, they walk out in all innocence and they walk right into the grief that you’d give your life to spare them from.” ― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Bob Madigan
Grandmothers are just mothers with wrinkles and gray hair brought on by decades of worry. ― Bob Madigan
Criss Jami
“You are evidence of your mother’s strength, especially if you are a rebellious knucklehead and regardless she has always maintained her sanity.” ― Criss Jami, Killosophy
Donna Tartt
“I missed her so much I wanted to die: a hard, physical longing, like a craving for air underwater. Lying awake, I tried to recall all my best memories of her—to freeze her in my mind so I wouldn’t forget her—but instead of birthdays and happy times I kept remembering things like how a few days before she was killed she’d stopped me halfway out the door to pick a thread off my school jacket. For some reason, it was one of the clearest memories I had of her: her knitted eyebrows, the precise gesture of her reaching out to me, everything.
Ezra Taft Benson
“It is a fundamental truth that the responsibilities of motherhood cannot be successfully delegated. No, not to day-care centers, not to schools, not to nurseries, not to babysitters. We become enamored with men’s theories such as the idea of preschool training outside the home for young children. Not only does this put added pressure on the budget, but it places young children in an environment away from mother’s influence.
Too often the pressure for popularity, on children and teens, places an economic burden on the income of the father, so mother feels she must go to work to satisfy her children’s needs. That decision can be most shortsighted. It is mother’s influence during the crucial formative years that forms a child’s basic character. Home is the place where a child learns faith, feels love, and thereby learns from mother’s loving example to choose righteousness. How vital are mother’s influence and teaching in the home—and how apparent when neglected!” ― Ezra Taft Benson
Several times too—drifting uneasily between dreaming and sleep—I sat up suddenly in bed at the sound of her voice speaking clearly in my head, remarks she might conceivably have made at some point but that I didn’t actually remember, things like Throw me an apple, would you? and I wonder if this buttons up the front or the back? and This sofa is in a terrible state of disreputableness.” ― Donna Tartt, The Goldfinch
George Eliot
“Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.” —George Eliot.
George Washington
“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual, and physical education I received from her.” ― George Washington
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
“Art is the child of nature in whom we trace the features of the mother’s face.” ― Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
Jodi Picoult
“The best place to cry is on a mother’s arms.” ― Jodi Picoult, House Rules
John Steinbeck
“Perhaps it takes courage to raise children..” ― John Steinbeck, East of Eden
Leonardo DiCaprio
“My mother is a walking miracle.” —Leonardo DiCaprio
Mahatma Gandhi
“It may be possible to gild pure gold, but who can make his mother more beautiful?” —Mahatma Gandhi
Mildred B. Vermont
Being a full-time mother is one of the highest salaried jobs in my field since the payment is pure love. ― Mildred B. Vermont
Mitch Albom
“I don’t know what it is about food your mother makes for you, especially when it’s something that anyone can make – pancakes, meatloaf, tuna salad – but it carries a certain taste of memory.” ― Mitch Albom
Gilda Radner
“Motherhood is the biggest gamble in the world. It is the glorious life force. It’s huge and scary – it’s an act of infinite optimism.” —Gilda Radner
Robert A. Heinlein
“Being a mother is an attitude, not a biological relation.” ― Robert A. Heinlein, Have Space Suit—Will Travel
Sam Ewing
“When you feel neglected, think of the female salmon, who lays 3,000,000 eggs but no one remembers her on Mother’s Day” ― Sam Ewing
Spencer W. Kimball
“I ask you, what good is a big picture window and the lavish appointments and a priceless decor in a home if there is no mother there?” ― Spencer W. Kimball, The Miracle of Forgiveness
Thomas S. Monson
“May each of us remember this truth; ‘one cannot forget mother and remember God. One cannot remember mother and forget God.’ Why? Because these two sacred persons, God and mother, partners in creation, in love, in sacrifice, in service, are as one.” ― Thomas S. Monson, Pathways To Perfection: Discourses Of Thomas S. Monson
Conclusion
If your Mother is still with us, be thankful. And be creative in ways you can make this Mother’s Day special. If she’s gone on ahead, please take time to reflect on the legacy and love she left you.