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 with 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!