When Mother Passes

Photo by Vince Fleming on Unsplash

It has been said that when a mother passes away there is a part of their child that is lost and cannot be recovered. Such is the importance of a mother’s love. And, yet, for those who believe in God’s eternity, there is a greater reuniting to be had.

At a recent funeral I was reminded of the impact a mother makes. When she is full of life and hope, which is lived out in her serving her family with a Proverbs 31 diligence, she leaves a legacy that even her death cannot vanquish.

And, still, her memory lives on through a grief that endures for the rest of her children’s lives.

They may soon accept that she has died,
but they never quite accept that she is gone.

Whether the relationship with our mothers was brilliant or abysmal or anywhere between, there is pain for the loss of the person who was responsible in the greater part for our coming into existence.

In many ways, we prepare for the day mother passes from the first day we consciously acknowledged her. As we were nursed and weaned and nurtured and let go of, all through the years, we were preparing to say goodbye. And the day does inevitably come.

Even though we are preparing for the parting from the very first moment onward, we are never truly prepared to say goodbye, and to face life on our own, without the presence of the only one who ever could play our number one nurturer.

As we interact with our mother, experiencing her humanity amid our humanity, acknowledging she is a real and an imperfect person, as we ourselves are real and imperfect, and even as we recognise she may press some of our buttons, of a sense, we are preparing to let her go.

Whatever years our mother has lived,
she has made an indelible impact.

It may not be a positive impact. Indeed, if her impact wasn’t positive it has still made ripples of influence. We may either miss our mothers so much, for who they were, or we may miss our mothers so much for who they weren’t. Either way mothers make a huge impact.

“Mothers hold their children’s hands for a short while, but their hearts forever.”

— Author Unknown