A Mother's Love
“A mother’s love for her children, even her inability to let them be, is because she is under a painful law that the life that passed through her must be brought to fruition.
No matter how old a mother is she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement. It could not be otherwise for she is impelled to know that the seeds of value sown in her have been winnowed. She never outgrows the burden of love, and to the end she carries the weight of hope for those she bore. Oddly, very oddly, she is forever surprised and even faintly wronged that her sons and daughters are just people, for many mothers hope and half expect that their newborn child will make the world better, will somehow be a redeemer.”
The Measure of My Days. Florida Scott-Maxwell
I came across this quote with all its simplicity and profoundness, in a little book recommended by a friend - A House by the Sea, by May Sarton.
It helps explain that unique love and devotion shown by a mother for her children. Even the most devoted father eventually loosens his grip on the weight of hope and expectation that parenthood brings. It also served to remind me of how much I miss my own mother who died at the age of 50, before she could see me become a parent and give her two grandsons she would have adored.
And it added a measure of grief to the loss of a friend in the past week. Only 65, she leaves behind a husband, two children and several grandchildren. That grief is tempered by the fact of her deep Christian faith, and her confidence and mine that she has passed to a new life and new body which are both imperishable.
No matter how old a mother is she watches her middle-aged children for signs of improvement. It could not be otherwise for she is impelled to know that the seeds of value sown in her have been winnowed. She never outgrows the burden of love, and to the end she carries the weight of hope for those she bore. Oddly, very oddly, she is forever surprised and even faintly wronged that her sons and daughters are just people, for many mothers hope and half expect that their newborn child will make the world better, will somehow be a redeemer.”
The Measure of My Days. Florida Scott-Maxwell
I came across this quote with all its simplicity and profoundness, in a little book recommended by a friend - A House by the Sea, by May Sarton.
It helps explain that unique love and devotion shown by a mother for her children. Even the most devoted father eventually loosens his grip on the weight of hope and expectation that parenthood brings. It also served to remind me of how much I miss my own mother who died at the age of 50, before she could see me become a parent and give her two grandsons she would have adored.
And it added a measure of grief to the loss of a friend in the past week. Only 65, she leaves behind a husband, two children and several grandchildren. That grief is tempered by the fact of her deep Christian faith, and her confidence and mine that she has passed to a new life and new body which are both imperishable.
posted by Ben Buan | 1:21 p.m.
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