Celebrating Motherhood

Mother’s Day used to really bug me as a young mother.

I remember one particularly poignant Mother’s Day when my first child was 2 or 3. Her epic meltdown was noisy enough to be taken completely out of the church building.

So there I stood on the church steps, holding her fast, because seriously - who rewards children with free reign in such moments? - and the irony of the timing struck me SO FUNNY. Happy Mother’s Day to me! Oh yeah, I was really having joy in my posterity at this particular moment.

Then there was my season of mocking the picture perfect stories and sentiments that would never-no-never be at my home address. And yes, I know mocking is the lowest - I’d like to think I’ve mostly grown out of it.

My favorite memory of this season, though, is of Madeleine Kahn, singing a hysterical version of “M is for the many things she gave me…” on SNL. This was the season where Dale was either the hero for giving me dementor-preventing chocolate for Mother’s Day, or was in the doghouse for giving me fat-laden chocolate for Mother’s Day.  Poor dear. Talk about hitting a moving target…

Then there were the years of grieving that adult children lived too far away, and our family didn’t have the kind of structure that allowed a houseful of grandchildren and cousins on Mother’s Day - so can we just maybe go to Market Street Broiler on Saturday night and forget the rest?  And then I’ll symbolically put my fingers in my ears during church, symbolically going, “LA LA LA LA LA” ?

And then the war on mothers - and fathers - and the whole fam damily - ramped up in earnest.

Then I remembered my horrified, incredulous reaction to reading Brave New World, back before I’d even had children. I couldn’t conceive of such a world - couldn’t conceive that an author could write a cautionary tale of a dystopian world - where sex was completely recreational and untethered from marriage and family responsibilities - and the most vile swear word in the society was mother.

Then I began to hear from dear friends who had strapped on the armor of the cultural warrior, and attended UN conferences that disparaged motherhood, fatherhood, and families. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing as they reported the manipulative practices of the UN, designed to bully countries into adopting “outcome documents” - which created a false sense of consensus and peer pressure -  but which held zero sway in individual countries’ policy making. Unless they fell for the trick.

It was during this season I became a part of a new group, Gathering Families.  Representing this group, I was honored to write a plea to UN delegates at one of the annual Commission on the Status of Women conferences.  (https://www.laureensimper.com/post/glorious-burden)

I was also part of a Gathering Families panel presentation in support of the natural family at the UN conference which was held in Salt Lake City.

These experiences and line of study have served to change Mother’s Day for me - forever.

Rather than profane the word ‘mother’ - I recognize parenthood - both mother and father - as the most sacred roles we shoulder in this life.

And that means we are entitled, by the power of Him who gave us these precious children, to His providential help - the help necessary to bear them, raise them, nurture them, keep them safe, and teach them virtue.

Happy Mother’s Day.  This is not a day to sap on about the perfect mother who - let’s face it, doesn’t exist. Rather, this is a day to celebrate that God chose such an intimate way for children to come into the world and claim their most important birthright - the safety of two parents who love them. The safety of a family.