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I could be wrong
The awesome power of motherhood
Lefavi Bob
Dr. Bob LeFavi

It was just over 100 years ago (May 9, 1914) that Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. According to Wilson’s proclamation, this day is to serve “as a public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of our country.”

Deep inside we all know there is something very special, very powerful about a mother’s love. God Himself is the source of such self-less, unconditional, and sacrificial love. I have seen grown men fall to their knees and become as little children in the presence of their mothers, such is the impact of that love. A mother may be angelic — or not; but in any case, that mother is never forgotten.

Here are some of my favorite quotes about motherhood:

“Mother’s love is bliss, is peace, it need not be acquired, it need not be deserved. If it is there, it is like a blessing; if it is not there it is as if all the beauty had gone out of life.” — Erich Fromm

“Youth fades; love droops; the leaves of friendship fall; A mother’s secret hope outlives them all.” —Oliver Wendell Holmes

“If evolution really works, how come mothers only have two hands?” — Milton Berle

“To describe my mother would be to write about a hurricane in its perfect power. Or the climbing, falling colors of a rainbow.” — Maya Angelou

“I remember my mother’s prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to me all my life.” — Abraham Lincoln

“My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her.” — George Washington

“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials heavy and sudden fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends desert us; when trouble thickens around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.” — Washington Irving

“Motherhood: All love begins and ends there.” — Robert Browning

“Life began with waking up and loving my mother’s face.” — George Eliot

“My mother … had a very deep inner spirituality that allowed her to rebuild her life. It’s extraordinary that she had such a strong sense of self and such a commitment to the future and such a strong creative sense that she could build new worlds for herself and for us out of the total devastation in her life.” — Caroline Kennedy

“Kids don’t stay with you if you do it right. It’s the one job where, the better you are, the more surely you won’t be needed in the long run.” Barbara Kingsolver

“Mothers and their children are in a category all their own. There’s no bond so strong in the entire world. No love so instantaneous and forgiving.” — Gail Tsukiyama

“Because I feel that, in the Heavens above / The angels, whispering to one another, / Can find, among their burning terms of love / None so devotional as that of ‘Mother’” — Edgar Allen Poe

“It’s not easy being a mother. If it were easy, fathers would do it.” — Dorothy on “The Golden Girls.”

The Rev. Dr. Bob LeFavi, installed member of the Society of Ordained Scientists, is pastor at Bethel Lutheran Church, Springfield.