Mother’s Day Reflection

This Mother’s Day, I am deeply grateful not only for the gift of motherhood, but for all the ways my children have transformed me through it.

We speak about motherhood so often in terms of sacrifice, exhaustion, survival, and responsibility. And while motherhood certainly asks much of us, I believe something far deeper is unfolding beneath the surface.

Because while we are raising our children, something within us is being formed too.

Early in my parenting journey, I came across the writings of Maria Montessori, and they profoundly changed the way I viewed children. Instead of seeing them primarily through the lens of correction, control, and performance, I began to see them as whole people entrusted to us—human beings deserving of reverence, patience, observation, and deep respect.

That shift changed me.

I began slowing down enough to truly observe my children instead of constantly directing them. I began paying attention to what sparked their curiosity, what brought them wonder, what made them come alive.

And slowly, I began asking myself different questions.

Not:
“How do I get through the day faster?”
“How do I keep everything under control?”

But:

“Am I making room for childhood here?”
“Am I protecting what truly matters?”
“Am I allowing this experience to shape me too?”

And in learning to see my children more clearly, I also began to see myself more clearly.

My impatience.
My hurriedness.
The places where I still needed growth.

I have come to believe that one of the hidden mysteries of motherhood is that children do not simply depend upon us for formation—we depend upon them too.

They reveal us to ourselves.

Our strengths and weaknesses.
Our tenderness and selfishness.
Our capacity for sacrifice, mercy, patience, and love.

Love that is lived closely and daily changes us.

And perhaps that is why motherhood feels both beautiful and painful at the same time. Because real love always asks something of us.

Not to diminish us—
But to refine us.

Somewhere along the way, many mothers were taught to believe children stand in the way of freedom, fulfillment, or becoming fully themselves.

But I have found the opposite to be true.

Children are not interruptions to life.

They invite us deeper into it.

Deeper into presence.
Deeper into connection.
Deeper into the ordinary rhythms of life where love quietly takes root and grows.

Motherhood has taught me that growth rarely happens through perfection. It happens through humility. Through sacrifice. Through learning to begin again after we fail.

There are moments we respond poorly.
Moments we miss what matters.
Moments we wish we could redo.

But those moments are not the opposite of growth.

So often, they are where growth begins.

Because the hidden work of motherhood is not only raising children.

It is shaping souls.

And perhaps one of the deepest gifts of motherhood is realizing that while we are pouring ourselves out in love for another human being, love is quietly transforming us too.

As our children grow, may we recognize our own becoming alongside them.

May we notice not only the ways love has softened, refined, and awakened us—but also the places where we are still being invited to grow.

Happy Mother’s Day. 💛