Mother's Day is a time that everyone reflects on their mothers. Many people reflect on how wonderful their mothers were and how they shaped their lives for the positive.
Many of us have several people in our lives that have reinforced their love for us by their simple act of saying "I love you'" or sharing a laugh, a smile, or a hug with us. Not all mothers are women, or even the biological mother, and that's okay. A mother figure is someone who nurtures you and is there with a shoulder when you need it. This can be a single father, a set of grandparents, an aunt and uncle, step-mothers and step-fathers, adoptive parents, or foster parents. And in a lot of cases, this can be a big brother or sister.
Sadly, not everyone had (or now has) mothers who are a positive influence in their lives. Many young people have their lives shaped negatively by the person who should be nurturing and caring for them. Some are unfortunate enough to have mothers who are addicts, alcoholics, child abusers, or have simply been abandoned by their mother. Sometimes the abandoned children are the lucky ones.
Keep children who have no mother figure at all, (or a negative mother figure) in your hearts and thoughts. If you are a person who prays, send a prayer winging toward heaven that the children who need that nurturer be able to find someone who can help them rise above what they are living through. Maybe it is a teacher, a pastor, a best friend. Or maybe that person is you and you don't even know it. You never know what you say to a child or young person may be the one thing that they have needed to hear all of their lives.
Have the courage to share that hug, that smile, that positive statement, that "I love you" when you can. You may be the person that child remembers when they become an adult as being the positive influence in their lives when things were at their worst for them.
Be the best influence you can be.
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