Liz: Dad, I have a riddle for you.
Okay.
Liz: You have to guess what it is.
Uhuh.
Liz: This is a job. It’s a job where you work all the time. You can never get any rest from it. You just keep going all the time.
Right.
Liz: Yeah, it’s 24-7. Especially at first. You have to work all day and all night too. And you don’t get paid for it!
What!?
Liz: Yeah. And millions of people want to do this job. All over the world. Millions and millions want to do it, and millions do it too.
Really? Why would they?
Liz: Yeah, it’s really a hard job, but lots of people do it. So what is it?
+
It’s being a mother, of course. And today, we take time to remember mothers everywhere.
Mother’s Day is about more than flowers and a meal out, though. It’s often about pain and disappointment. It’s often the one day of the year to grieve, say, the loss of a mother. Or the loss of a child. Or the loss of not being able to have children. Or the lost expectation that motherhood or even your own mother would be something or someone else.
No. Motherhood and all the expectations around it, as 10-year-old Liz already knows, is not for the faint of heart.
In developing nations, in fact, you often don’t even get out of childbirth alive. Hundreds of thousands of women perish every year doing something as noble as bringing new life into the world. They often die on a mud floor. Often bleeding to death. Often with barely anyone around. Often leaving other children behind.
Yesterday, Save the Mothers, the charity founded by My Children’s Mother, held its annual Mothers Weekend Walks in several cities across North America to help bring awareness to this global scourge.
Why are women dying by the truckload? Where? And what can you do to help?
In Hamilton, at the Dundas Driving Park, Jean, standing on a picnic table, wrapped up her comments to fundraisers and all participants with the simple yet profound truth “Every child should have a mother.”
All involved in the walk can be congratulated, including local MP David Sweet, a faithful supporter of the cause, so much that to get to last year’s Dundas walk, he braved a numbingly-cold drive from Ottawa on his motorcycle.
Find more information on the results of this year’s walks here. And find more on Save the Mothers here.
Hi Thomas, I first read something of yours in a small Christian publication that comes to work. I don’t even remember what the publication was. I do remember I was fully expecting something different and prepared not to like it. Instead, I followed you on Twitter.
Thank you for doing this blog.
Jordan from Toronto.
Multi-Tasking !
Sounds a bit like the physician Luke ?
Greek Physician from Antioch. Well at least not from UWO ! Evangelist with ‘outreach’ on many travels (with Paul). Historian & author ( the books of Luke and Acts).
According to the Orthodox church, he was something of a painter ?
Mother, spouse. . . . sounds like Jean is multitasking !
It is an excellent example of how one person, can be “called” for many tasks in their lifetime ! Even if it sounds all too exhausting !!!
Rick S
For sure, Jean is among the mothers who rule when it comes to multi-tasking. (I don’t recommend long-term multi-tasking myself, but Jean can handle it better than most and our hats should go off to all the moms who do it day in and day out.) Thanks Rick.
Jordan, thanks for the note. It was likely Christian Week, a publication for Canada’s Christian community. I’m glad you enjoyed what you read and I trust you’ll find other things worthwhile from time to time over here on Daily Dad.