Pandora recently released this very touching commercial that pulls at the heart of every mother. Watching it brings up a swell of emotions as the blindfolded children are able to identify their own mother by touching her, smelling her and embracing her.

 It resonates in the heart of every mom because we know our own children would correctly identify us. We know because their little hands are constantly touching us throughout our days.   Studies have shown that the heart rate of babies in utero increases at the sound of the mother’s voice. Every mother knows the depths of that connection that begins before they ever see their child.

From the moment two pink lines appear on the pregnancy test, your life is forever changed. The things you think about, the way you look, the way you spend your time – life is no longer just about you and your spouse.  A person as small as a poppy seed has the ability to change all aspects of your life in an instant.

The Unique Connection Of A Mother and Child

Yet, many of us moms have an awful habit of talking about when things return to “normal”.  People overhear us at coffee shops and playgrounds sharing with one another about what we will accomplish when our bodies are back to normal; our schedules are back to normal; our careers are back to normal.  I am a firm believer that what happens to us in our physical life is meant to teach us something in our spiritual life as well.  God designed our bodies and lives to be changed by a small child, why are we working so hard to get back to “normal”?     

Take a moment to look at this beautiful painting of the resurrected Jesus and Thomas.

Notice, that His wounds are still present.  Why would the glorified body of Christ still have wounds? One reason that St. Bede tells us is that Christ kept His wounds not from an inability to heal them, “but to wear them as an everlasting trophy of His victory.”

Our example is Christ.  He is not ashamed of what the world may consider flaws in His body.  He uses them as a witness to the world.   Moms, we can do the same.  Instead of fighting against the changes in our appearance, our schedules, and expectations of ourselves, we can prayerfully learn to use these as trophies of the victory of life.  

The children in the commercial found such joy in the faces and touch of their mothers.   Our children are not concerned with how good we look, how much money we make, how clean we keep our homes, or how well we cook.  They are only concerned with our love.  The more love we lavish upon them, the more love they show us in return.    I have yet to hear an adult say that they wished their mother had been thinner, more fashionable, or wealthier.  However, I have often heard adults reflect on the selfless love their mother bestowed on them or tell stories of how their mothers guided them through some of life’s toughest situations.

This Mother’s Day take a moment to thank God not only for the gift of your children, but for the gift of the marks they leave on you and for the many ways they have taken you away from “normal”.  Let the new normal be the stretch marks, extra pounds, sticky fingerprints, and careers put on hold. Confidently slip on a pair of Mom jeans and go for a cruise in your mini-van.   God is changing you. He is conforming your heart to His.   Every time you cheat on your diet to enjoy ice cream with your child or come home from work early to play a few minutes extra, you are creating a memory for your child that will remind him or her of the love that both you and God have for them for many years to come.  Our surrendering the goal of a “normal” life and uniting our will with God’s will for our lives leads us closer to Him and deepens the faith of our children as well.

Prayer for the graces of Motherhood

Powerful is your intercession with God, Mary, for you are His mother.
Tender, too, is your love for us, for you are our mother.
 Confidently, then, I come to you as a child, poor and needy, to seek your aid and protection.
In every trial of motherhood, I beg your aid.
For the grace of a happy delivery, I come to you.
 For your holy assistance in guarding and directing each tiny soul with which God entrust me, I call to you.
In every sorrow that comes to me in my motherhood, I confide in you.
 That I may have strength to bear cheerfully all the pains and the hardships of motherhood, I lean on you.
 That the sweetness of motherhood may not through my neglect be embittered in later years by pains of regret, I trust in you.
That the will of God may always be fulfilled in me through each act of my motherhood, little and great, I beg your aid.
Never forsake me, dear mother, my hope, my consolation, my confidence, and my trust,
But ever be at my side to aid and protect me, your needy child. Amen.

Mother of love, of Sorrow, and of Mercy, Pray for us!

From “Mothers’ Manual

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