Homage to Mothers

This is a truly BEAUTIFUL piece. Please read this at a slow pace, digesting every word and in leisure...do not hurry....this is a treasure...

The young mother set her foot on the path of life.

'Is this the long way?' she asked. And the guide said:

'Yes, and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach

the end of it . But the end will be better than the beginning.'

But the young mother was happy, and she would not

believe that anything could be better than these years. So she

played with her children, and gathered flowers for

them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and

the sun shone on them, and the young Mother cried,

'Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.'

Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was

dark, and the children shook with fear and cold, and the mother

drew them close and covered them with her mantle, and the children said,

'Mother, we are not afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come.'

And the morning came, and there was a hill ahead, and

the children climbed and grew weary, and the mother was weary.

But at all times she said to the children,' A little patience and we are there.'

So the children climbed, and when they reached the top

they said, 'Mother, we would not have done it without you.'

And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up

at the stars and said, 'This is a better day than the last, for my

children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness.

Yesterday I gave them courage.

Today, I've given them strength.'

And the next day came strange clouds which darkened

the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil, and the children groped

and stumbled, and the mother said: 'Look up. Lift your eyes to the light.

'And the children looked and saw above the clouds

an everlasting glory, and it guided them beyond the

darkness'.  And that night the Mother said,

'This is the best day of all, for

I have shown my children God.'

And the days went on, and the weeks and the months and

the years, and the mother grew old and she was little and bent.

But her children were tall and strong, and walked with

courage. And when the way was rough, they lifted her,

for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill,

and beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. And

mother said, 'I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end

is better than the beginning, for my children can

walk alone, and their children after them.'

And the children said, 'You will always walk with us,

Mother, even when you have gone through the gates.'

And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and the gates

closed after her. And they said: 'We cannot see her

but she is with us still. A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She

is a living presence.......'

Your Mother is always with you.... She's the whisper

of the leaves as you walk down the street; she's the smell of bleach

in your freshly laundered socks; she's the cool hand

on your brow when you're not well. Your Mother lives

inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every tear drop.

She's the place you came from, your first home; and

she's the map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love

and your first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you.

Not time, not space... not even death...

If you still have her near, cherish and adore her.

If she has passed, then never forget her, not even for a second.

For when you have passed, she will be the first waiting for you!