This One's for the Mamas

Long ago (2003-ish), I read an Oprah magazine, and I came across this "What I Know For Sure" article about moms. I saved it, and I forgot about it, and I re-found it recently. I like what good 'ole Oprah has to say, so I want to share it with you all, my blogger buds and mamas and those of you who aspire to be a mom someday (Molly!).

Being a mom has truly surprised me by being the the most challenging, emotion-packed, self-less, never-ending job imaginable, yet also the most rewarding. It is exhausting, yet also exhilarating. I could continue, but you moms out there are probably nodding your heads, thinking, "Yep, yep, yep."

So, I hope that you enjoy Oprah's words too, and while I'm at it, I'll send a shout out to the little people who call me mom.

I'm in awe of good mothers--those heroines all around me who sacrifice daily out of love for their children. In our society, we give motherhood plenty of lip service. We pat moms on the head, bring them flowers on Mother's Day, and honor them before crowds. But at the end of the day, we don't extend them the same respect we would a professor, a dentist, an accountant, or a judge. Women who choose full-time mothering are often put in a box by their friends and former colleagues--a container labeled JUST A MOM.

I believe the choice to become a mother is the choice to become one of the greatest spiritual teachers there is. To create an environment that's stimulating and nurturing, to pass on a sense of responsibility to another human being, to raise a child who understands that he or she is created from good and is capable of anything--I know for sure that few callings are more honorable. To play down mothering as small is to crack the very foundation on which greatness stands.

The world can only value mothering to the extend that women everywhere stand and declare that it must be so. In our hands, we hold the power to transform the perception of motherhood. Whether we decide to work full-time while raising children, stay home with our kids, or bear no children at all, we need to understand that any put-down of the decision to mother is a threat to women's choices everywhere. We should no longer allow a mother to be defined as "just a mom." It is on her back that great nations are built. We should no longer allow any woman's voice to be drowned out or disregarded. As we affirm other women, and as we teach our sons, husbands, and friends to hold them in the highest regard, we honor both the mothers whose shoulders we've stood on and the daughters who will one day stand tall on ours.