Happy Mother's Day, Mothers and Mothering Spirits

Today, I, being the nonconformist that I am, am celebrating and lauding all the mothers and mothering spirits connected to me and even those afar off. I celebrate my own mother all year long; she hears everyday just how amazing she is to me, but it is wonderful that the world sets aside a day to collectively observe our mothers.

When I think of my mother (whom I reference often as Mother Love and MommiePoo), I immediately think of her sacrifice, grace, and beauty. When we were at our lowest, our poorest, our most desolate, Mother taught us to dress up and to look like where we wanted to be. I remember times when we be to the bottom of every barrel, and Mother would teach us to shine our shoes and comb our hair and to stand up straight and walk on. This was not a pride thing, but a faith thing. She knew and instilled in my brothers and me that it would not always be that way—and, just like Momma said, it was not.

Even to this day, she is strength, beauty, and grace at its best. Many of my mother’s attributes she instilled in me by example alone—nurturing, perseverance, supportive—many of the traits that make a mother a mother. I began to think, these are some of the same traits that those close to me appreciate in me. Now, I’m by no means a mother and would never take away from the mothers of the world, but it dawned on me that what people need is a mothering spirit. Just like we can acknowledge many of our strong mothers who have had to change hats from disciplinarian to nurse, we should acknowledge that the men on our lives can do the same.

Everybody needs a mothering spirit in their lives and it doesn't even necessary have to come through a woman. Where the fathers implement discipline, skill, and protection, a mother imparts character and responsibility.

I do definitely have a fathering spirit as well, and I see it operate through mentoring, life preparation, and impartation of wisdom, even still I embrace that I do have a mothering spirit. I remember my years in the church toddler Sunday school classrooms. At 15, my first job was at a head start where I worked with 3 and 4 year olds. And beyond small children, many of my friends and family remind me how there’s that “certain something” that I have that helps them; it is very humbling.

It takes a certain someone with a certain something to nurture and develop consistently throughout life. We all have those sisters, brothers, neighbors, teachers, leaders, and friends who have mothered us right on together. When we find those forces in our lives, we should acknowledge, embrace, and respect them.

Happy Mother’s Day

JustDream