Celebrating Mothers

It is Mother’s Day and a great opportunity to celebrate that special specie, whose vital contributions to humanity cannot be overemphasized.

Motherhood is a high calling. It is a life of sacrifice, compromise and delayed gratification. The journey is fraught with discomforts, rapid physiological transformations and life style changes. It is however also accompanied with an unquantifiable joy at the unraveling miracle of nursing a child into being.

Pregnancy alters a woman’s life in many ways than the obvious physical challenges of carrying the foetus for nine solid months. Beyond the rude realisation that someone else has invaded your privacy and making demands on you, it comes with hormonal changes that affect virtually every organ in your body. Your feeding habits, mood, self confidence and of course physical appearance changes.

Then talk about child birth and the attendant dangers and discomfort of labour. The birth of a child, the joy of seeing the infant and the visions of the future however dulls the pain of childbirth and perhaps can explain why many women gladly take this arduous trip over and over again.

Mothers by virtue of the unique relationship they have with the child, wield a lot of influence on the child and consequently play a vital role in the shaping of society. From the nine months spent in the mother’s womb and the months suckling on her breast, the baby develops an intimate bond with the mother, that is hard to ignore.

The bond grows with the mother’s natural propensity to care and the amount of time spent with the clinging child. The assurance she provides as the child records various growth milestones. The confidence inspired to dust his behind and try again when faced with daunting obstacles, the encouragement to explore and attain new heights.

As the child grows to adolescence and then adulthood, her prayers and dreams, as a driving force, pulls him through life’s many challenges. The stabilising influence of the mother provides a critical factor in the formation of a wholesome individual and many mothers have lived their dreams and raised a number of such. In some instances, they have defied  reason and seen their faith rewarded in reversing an evidently lost cause. Yes, even in situations where the fathers had since given up.

Today we celebrate mothers and aspiring mothers too. Those who daily bear the burden of raising our next generation and shaping our society. Those unsung heroines who by tradition are accustomed to diligently play their roles, unannounced and uncelebrated.  Those who society takes for granted, yet places enormous expectations on their ever resilient shoulders.

It is the least we can do to show gratitude.

To every mother out there, we salute your courage!

Happy Mother’s Day!