Sunday, May 8, 2011

Mother's Day - Do you know the secret?

Do you know the true origin of Mother's Day?

I do.

I read it last night.

This was not a day to celebrate mothers, as noble a cause as that is.

This day was started in 1870 by women who had lost their sons in the Civil War.

Mother's Day was started by bereaved mothers.

It was a a peaceful call to action for women to protect children everywhere. The real feelings of this day started with pain, loss and grief. The *mothers* were honoring their *children*, and each other.

Now we have the 'Mother's Day' we all know. Somewhere in all the celebration, women who are enduring the original feelings of this holiday... pain, loss grief... are pushed aside by many and told that mothers 'deserve to be honored because they work so hard', while their turn to be recognized has to wait until someone calls them "mom", if that day ever comes.

I acknowledge this day for everything it has become, but also for everything it originally was. The women who started this tradition would not want me to simply prop myself up on pillows and wait for my breakfast in bed. They would also want me to seek out and remember those who are bereaved. Those women suffering the loss of a child (born on earth or in utero). Women grieving the loss of their mother. Women walking through the darkness that is the loss of babies they will never know. That 'reaching out' is what this day was all about.

Today, I honor my mom, my sister, my nieces, my friends, any woman who fulfills the original call to reach out to each other and protect a child. I remember those for whom this day is difficult, and I lift them up. Because that, my friends, is what Mother's Day is really all about.

"I will celebrate with you, if you first mourn with me. It is the combination of the two that lends itself to the true meaning of Mother's Day!"
- pregnancylossribbons.blogspot.com

4 comments:

Hope said...

Beautiful post. Thank you for sharing this.

Brock said...

I love it. Our lesson today in RS was about how eve was called the mother of all living before she even ever conceived. Today is truly a day to honor womanhood, kindness and love. You are all these things! Always have been!

Erin

Hillary said...

Thank you so much for this post. I cried when I read it. Because all day today, I have been trying so hard to keep a smile on my face and serve my own mother and mother-in-law, all the while watching my sisters-in-law recline and be waited on hand and foot by their husbands. All I could think about, despite my efforts, was how much I hate this stupid day.

So thank you for lightening it a little bit, and giving me something better to think about.

Suzanna said...

I've enjoyed in past looking up history on other days.... But sadly I never thought to look up any history for Mother's Day. Thank you for sharing! I'm glad this Mother's Day was so blessed for you.

FAITH IN GOD MEANS HAVING FAITH IN HIS TIMING.