| A MOTHER'S WALK
A MOTHER'S WALK
The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long
way?" she asked. And the guide said: "Yes, and the way is hard. And you
will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better
than the beginning." But the young mother was happy, and she would not
believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played
with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and
bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone on them, and the
young Mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."
Then the night came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the
children shook with fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and
covered them with her mantle, and the children said, "Mother, we are not
afraid, for you are near, and no harm can come." And the morning came,
and there was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and
the mother was weary. But at all times she said to the children, "A
little patience and we are there." So the children climbed, and when
they reached the top they said, "Mother, we would not have done it
without you." And the mother, when she lay down at night looked up at
the stars and said, "This is a better day than the last, for my children
have learned fortitude in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them
courage. Today I have given them strength."
And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of
war and hate and evil, and the children groped and stumbled, and the
mother said: "Look up. Lift your eyes to the light." And the children
looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them
beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said, "This is the best
day of all, for I have shown my children God." And the days went on, and
the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew old and she
was little and bent. But her children were tall and strong and walked
with courage. And when the way was rough, they lifted her, for she was
as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and beyond they
could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. And mother said:
"I have reached the end of my journey. And now I know the end is better
than the beginning, for my children can walk alone, and their children
after them."
And the children said, "You will always walk with us, Mother, even when
you have gone through the gates." And they stood and watched her as she
went on alone, and the gates closed after her. And they said: "We cannot
see her, but she is with us still.
A Mother like ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence."
Your Mother is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves as you
walk down the street, she's the smell of bleach in your freshly
laundered socks, she's the cool hand on your brow when you're not well.
Your Mother lives inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every
tear drop. She's the place you came from, your first home; and she's the
map you follow with every step you take. She's your first love and your
first heartbreak, and nothing on earth can separate you...not time, not
space...not even death!  | 
Linear Mode
