Mother
Mother – never our ideal, never that whom we hoped for…really hoped for.
I learned this as my mother was dying. I realized she would never be what I had always hoped she would be. No mother can, nor will. No human can fill that mother longing within us. We mothers try. We mothers fall short. We mothers beat ourselves up for this.
What mother can?
This past week, I was held in the lap of this mother that is the bountiful presence that births life. She is the tree whose arms wrapped around space like a vine wraps itself around the trellis. She is the sky whose stars shot through the night sky. She is the garden, whose birthing beds produced a magical harvest. She is the silkiest, saltiest water to ever embrace this woman’s body.
This past week, I was held in the lap of Molokai. This magical island is deeply rooted and grounded. Her energy is of the earth in a way there are no words to describe. She is wild and untamed and I came to know this place within myself – wild and untamed.
What if she is the creator, the One that gives birth to all that is?
What if she holds all the world’s children?
What if this mother is the mother you long for, the mother that can hold you in the ways you long to be held, can hear you in the ways you long to be heard, can touch you in the ways you long to be touched?
What if She is the only mother who can do so?
How would your life change if you came to know this?
How would your relationship with your human mother change?
How would your relationship change with yourself, and with the world, if you knew, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that you are already held in the most bountiful lap, the most embraceable hug, the most adoring look possible?
This Mother’s Day, may you know Her embrace; may you know her bounty, may you know her adoration, may you know her love. May you come to know that your human mother cannot fill your deepest cravings to be mothered – but the Mother can and she is here, right now, holding you in her most bountiful lap. And it is through Her embrace that we remember the true mother within.
May we offer gratitude and love to our beautiful and bountiful Mother Earth…and to all the world’s mothers.
Julie, happy Mother’s Day and thanks for nurturing hundreds of us over the past week from Hawaii. You are awesome.
Julie, your words convey depth. They truly connect.
Beautiful!
You know, don’t you, how powerful and perfect this is? For me. Thank you.
My Mom was institutionalized after my Dad won custody (all 3 of us), she had a complete nervous breakdown when NYC’s Welfare Agency took my 1/2 sister Lorraine the very next day, so I know well the “hell on earth” that some unfortunate mothers try to cope with Julie.
Bless you & yours plus all the mothers who’s souls you have touched today, for sure you are an Earth Angel by any reasonable standard, & a welcomed human being in my world too dear Julie.
Joe
Thank you so much for this, Julie! Quiet and oh, so sweet healing balm for perhaps my deepest old story of lack.
Now I allow myself to flourish fully in the nurturing abundance of Life Itself; All That Is, always has been and will be. This is big…
My precious human mother is finally and completely off the hook. And I cherish the gift of her – absolutely perfect for me!
Blessings Abound!!!
I’m all teared up, Julie. Thank you for this.
I have a very deep connection with my mother but yes, there was always something “more” that I seemed to seek. It wasn’t until I became a mother myself and I experienced the overwhelming love I have for my daughter that I could begin to understand the all encompassing love, support, and acceptance that my mother held out to me. For me, Mother represents that process of being loved, experiencing a love that is limitless and coming to recognize it is the very essence of what life/great spirit/mother earth is always offering us. Now I am equipped to receive it.
Thank you for this beautiful reflection upon the mother. Aho!
I have been giving this so much thought over the last few months. There is such a huge expectation and demand placed on women to be this emobodiment of perfect love giving to their children. It creates a gap so wide it becomes an abyss almost impossible to traverse. Like you say Julie, I believe we must look within and to Mother Earth to provide the depth of love we seek, it simply can not come from one single human being.