Mom Power

My mother underwent surgery for breast cancer last week. She chose to have a lumpectomy, and the pathologist report has declared her margins clear of cancer cells! That is the great news. She has been blessed with a very rapid recovery, and was back to work just a few short days later. Of course, that is not the end of her battle. She is now facing the prospect of a very long treatment of daily radiation, with all of the possible complications and side effects. She is also waiting for results from a new mammogram to check for further calcium deposits, and for the over-due genetic test results to tell us if she is a carrier of the breast cancer gene. It seems with medical challenges there is always more waiting than motion. All possible treatments and options get placed on hold while additional tests are run…and then more waiting ensues until the results return. Mom remains confident and positive. We feel very blessed that she has good doctors, and that there are such good treatments available for her. We are taking the process the proverbial “one day at a time“.

A wonderful thing happens as you grow older and you become a mother yourself…suddenly, your “eyes are opened”. You find a deeper love and appreciation for your own mother than you ever could have before. Once, you were so quick to criticize. Now, you wonder “HOW did she do it”?! The mother-daughter relationship often takes on a new “sisterhood” at that point. This is what has happened between my mother and I. She is my great hero and friend. She was never a “perfect mother” (whatever that means) – but what has made her a good and powerful mother is that she has never stopped trying. My mother knows that God lives, and that she is a daughter of God. She has always known that her children are a sacred trust, and she has taken her life-long role as our mother very seriously. She never gave up on us – and she never gave up on herself.

In October 2007 at the General Conference of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, Sister Julie Beck gave a talk entitled “Mothers Who Know”. To me, this talk is empowering.

None of us can be or do everything that this message speaks of! However, it is not meant to overwhelm nor rebuke – but to lift and to validate.

Sister Beck has outlined what MOM POWER really is. She gives all women something to reach for, to celebrate and to emulate. Every woman of faith who keeps striving to know God, and who never gives up has great “POWER and INFLUENCE” on their child…and ultimately, on the whole world.

Thank you, Mother. You have always known. You have never given up. You are powerful. I will always love you.

I give thanks to Clark Siler for this beautiful video creation.