By Carol Tobias, President
This coming Sunday is a special day set apart to honor our mothers. Our mothers nurtured us and cared for us. They loved and encouraged us. They fed and clothed us. They were our first teachers and they taught us right from wrong.
It is no understatement to say that mothers are superheroes.
Moms are a best friend, a teacher, a nurse, a maid, a cook, a hairdresser, a fashion designer, a driver, a listener, a hugger, a tear wiper, your biggest cheerleader, your biggest prayer warrior, someone who is always there, giving you nudges, encouragement, love, and wisdom.
Mothers are the first protectors of that new life, growing and developing into a beautiful child.
In the past, NRL News Today reprinted a column from Secular Pro-Life. They asked, on their Facebook page, “For those of you who used to be pro-choice, what made you change your mind?”
One of the respondents, Jaime, wrote, “Actually listening to pro-life people instead of just dismissing them…
She continued, “and researching the science of the developing embryo as my unborn baby developed inside of me. I began questioning what I was actually fighting for-–what could be more important than the tiny little life that was growing inside of me, whose sole protector was me?”
In today’s world, there are a lot of pressures to end that new life growing inside them. I’m grateful for the moms, like Jaime, who say “yes” to life.
Whenever rearing their children is not possible for them, there are mothers who selflessly and courageously place their children for adoption so that another family can share in the joys of raising a child. God bless them.
But motherhood is infinitely complex, a wide and varied path, filled with challenges.
There are mothers who excel at the career that is motherhood. They know exactly the right thing to say or do. They’re the closest friend, the wise counselor, and best (and necessary) critic.
There are also mothers who struggle at times with being a mom. For whatever reason, it’s more difficult for them to know what to do. And sometimes that can impact relationships with their children well into adulthood.
Regardless of the path our mothers walked in their journey, we are all here because of the strength, the wisdom, and the love of the women – our moms – who gave us life.
But what about the other mothers? The ones who succumbed to societal pressures to abort their child, because they were fed the lie that abortion is “the easy choice?”
And because their child tragically did not survive, many of these women will spend this Sunday in soul-wrenching grief. We empathize with them in their sorrow. We lift these mothers of lost children up in prayer to ask that God might provide them healing and the assurance that they will one day be reunited with their children.
Motherhood isn’t an easy journey. It comes with heartache and triumph, tears and laughter, joy and sorrow. But it’s a special journey.
So we take a moment (although it could be a lifetime) to honor the women in our lives who have been on that journey and to celebrate their unique and irreplaceable role in our lives and in our society.
From all of us at National Right to Life, Happy Mother’s Day!