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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 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
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! |
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