Mom: a Three Letter Word
I’m not sure there is any other word that can arouse the amount of mixed emotions as this three-letter one.
Mom.
Is there a sweeter sound to the ear than the phrase, “I love you, Mommy”? Yet, to be perfectly honest, as a single mother, I hear the word, “Mom” (usually, “MOM!”) an awful lot. I was recently thinking that if I were to create a Top Ten list of words and phrases spoken in our home by my children that the words, “Mom” and “Mommy,” would fill numbers one through ten leaving no room for anything else. There would be no competition.
Let’s be clear, I hear the word, “Mom!” a lot, and sometimes it causes me to cringe as if the sound of it were fingernails on a chalkboard. Yeah, it’s that bad.
Single parents are often on full-time duty, twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. Sure, we get little breaks here and there, and I’ve been known to use the phrase, “go tell Grammy” quite a bit, but in reality, the buck stops right here, with Mom.
Every single long story that needs to be told, every explanation given, every single question asked; is told, explained, and asked to Mom.
Every hurt that is hugged away, every heart that is comforted, every tear that is wiped; is hugged, comforted, and wiped by Mom.
Every bath, every hairstyle, every search for the lost toy; yeah, that’s on Mom too.
If there is a baseball game to be cheered, a school conference/ceremony/concert/play to attend or teachable moment, that’s still Mom.
Discipline, hygiene, first loves, college admission woes–Mom is there.
I am here. I am Mom.
But although I am a single mother, I am not alone. I recall these words that God spoke to Joshua, and I know they are true for me today.
“Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.” – Joshua 1:9 (ESV)
My God is with me. Fear, exhaustion, frustration, and doubt visit me from time to time, some days more than others… But at night when my body sinks into sleep, it is not dismay nor the exhaustion of work that weighs me down and pulls me into rest, it is a heart full of gratitude for this gift called motherhood… And gently, I descend into sleep.
Mom: a Three Letter Word
In the morning I will be thankful once again when I hear that most precious three letter word for the one billionth time, “Mom!”
Copyright © Rebecca Onkar, Moms of Faith®, All Rights Reserved
