This mothers day I thought a lot about moms. Especially one in particular.
When I look at my baby, Daniel Christopher, I am mesmerized by my love for him. I cannot help but think of Mary, The Queen of Mothers, who gave birth to her perfect, chosen son, Jesus.
When we first brought baby Daniel home from the hospital, he was unfamiliar with my husband and I. We would change his diaper and he would cry. We would bathe him and he would cry. We would put him to sleep and he would cry. I used to worry about him crying all the time, now I worry about other things as he has grown older.
Daniel is 17 months old now. He has learned who his mom and dad are, and therefore, he has learned to trust us.
Like Daniel who has learned to trust my husband and me more as he has matured, I try to trust in God more as well- especially lately.
These days Daniel is crawling, climbing, and learning to walk.
As a new mom entering this new phase, I have regrettably allowed fear to consume me as he has grown more independent.
For example, just the other day, he was standing and trying to grab our DVD player and cable box.
Since he is learning to walk, he falls easily since his balance is off.
He is crawling up the stairs now.
He is standing in the bathtub now.
I worry about injuries. I worry about letting him grow up. I even worry about the future, such as, when he gets older and how I will protect him.
These worries make me feel helpless and afraid, reminding me that I am only a little child myself in God’s eyes. And I need to trust Him like a little child.
As I struggle with worrying more about Daniel, I look to Mary for guidance. I contemplate how she must have felt watching Jesus collapse over and over again carrying his cross on Calvary. I wonder what she was thinking about when Jesus was nailed to the cross in front of her. I try to imagine her agony as well as the great peace that she must have felt knowing that she was submitting to the will of God. What great faith Mary had.
Mary was able to let go of Jesus completely because she knew that God was taking care of Him.
What a great lesson this shows us. We do our best as parents to protect our children, but to a certain point, we need to trust God with what we cannot control.
Unlike Mary, I struggle with my faith daily. I remind myself that it is about having more faith, than fear.
Mary is a wonderful reminder of how to abandon all things to God and to trust Him unconditionally, no matter what He asks of us or how difficult it may be. Mary always had God in the center of her heart and life, and this is something that I strive for as well.
I often ask for Mary to help me trust in God’s will and to help me abandon baby Daniel, and all things, into His loving hands, like she did.
When I am successful at surrendering my anxieties to him, I feel a great peace come over me. It allows me to be Daniel’s mother and it allows God to be God. Sometimes I switch those roles and make my life much more stressful than it needs to be.
Like baby Daniel, I am trying to learn how to walk without falling. Jesus knows what it is like to fall and He takes great care in helping us get up and try again. That is why he gave us His mother, Mary. She is Jesus’ mother and our mother too.
She will look upon all of her children. We just need to take her hand and leave the rest to God.
