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When my daughter Victoria was a high school sophomore she asked me, “Is it weird to have kids?”

“You mean to give birth?”

“No. To have them around. To see them. To talk to someone who came out of you. Who started as a tiny speck and is now living around you. What does that feel like?”

I thought of what it was like to watch a piece of my heart walk and talk and move independently from me. To be overwhelmed by the desperate desire to prevent them from repeating my mistakes. To experience the burden of trying to download everything I think I know. To painfully realize they just might make mistakes of their own all the while praying their gradual independence from me will lead to a lifelong, growing dependence upon God.

Despite these thoughts and emotions, the only words I found were, “I never thought about it like that. It IS weird to have kids.”

Motherhood! Nothing I’ve done has been more challenging, or more rewarding. Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with the best role model, my own mother, Jeanne Keller. She loves unconditionally and exhibits patience my husband dreams of being mine. She is generous and the quiet strength that balances my dad’s outgoing and impulsive nature.

I honor her, and the many, wonderful mothers I know. Many impact children far beyond their borders and they touch the lives of nieces, nephews, grandchildren, students and children of friends and neighbors. May God strengthen you, energize you, fill you and allow you to overflow with His love, joy, peace, mercy and wisdom.

I think I’ll choose Mother’s Day to pose Victoria’s question back to her as she now has a 3-month-old son. Knowing Victoria, her answer will exceed the one I gave 11 years ago.

 

Ronny Michel can be reached at rmichel@rtconline.com.