Mother’s Day Reflections

The first light of dawn creeps across the Texas sky this morning, a gentle watercolor of pinks and golds that feels both timeless and fleeting. The dew clings stubbornly to the wildflowers, their purple and yellow heads nodding in the whisper of a breeze that carries the mingled scents of fresh coffee, rain-washed earth, and honeysuckle. From somewhere nearby comes the persistent, hopeful chattering of grackles, and their abrasive sound puts me on high alert, awakening me better than coffee.

Suspended Time 

On mornings like this, time seems suspended. The porch swing creaks in gentle rhythm, a metronome marking moments that will never return. The coffee mug is warm between palms that once were held by my mother’s steadying hands. There’s something about these quiet moments that peels back the layers of adulthood, revealing the child within who still longs for the comforting presence of Mom. I’m missing her today.

Love Unbounded

Mother’s love is perhaps the most profound miracle of ordinary life — a love so expansive it seems to defy the laws of nature. It’s like the Texas sky itself — boundless, ever-present, sheltering us through storms and sunshine alike. Even when they’re gone, mothers leave an imprint on our souls as permanent as the lines on our palms.

Empty Chairs 

For those experiencing their first Mother’s Day with an empty chair at the table, an unheard voice on the other end of the phone, I see you. That first year carries a special kind of ache, a bewildering emptiness where celebration once lived. The calendar pages keep turning with cruel indifference to our grief, bringing us to days marked by absence rather than presence.

Enduring Presence

Yet in that absence, we find the enduring power of a mother’s love. It lives in the recipes we’ve inherited, like her amazing beef Stroganoff, which has never been the same in my kitchen. Mom’s influence is eternally passed on unexpectedly as phrases from her lips emerge from our own mouths, in the values that guide our decisions, and in the way we love our own children. I even catch myself saying things I swore I’d never say to my own kids, things that came from my mother. A mother’s love is like the horizon line — even when she disappears from view, her influence continues to shape the landscape of our lives.

Wild Gardens

Today, as we honor mothers everywhere, let’s remember that motherhood is like tending a garden that grows wild and wonderful in unexpected ways. It’s the quiet strength of showing up every day, of bandaging scraped knees and mending broken hearts, of celebrating triumphs both small and significant. It’s like holding water in cupped hands — precious, essential, and impossible to fully contain.

Time’s Gift

For those whose mothers still walk this earth, today is a gentle reminder not to wait. Make the call. Write the letter. Ask the questions. Share your gratitude. And for those whose mothers have passed beyond our reach, perhaps today we can honor them by embodying their best qualities, by telling their stories, by becoming living memorials to the love they poured into us. Let our kids know the legends of our youth and the stories of the mother only we knew.

Stubborn Beauty

The porch will always be here, the coffee will always brew, and the Texas morning will always break with stubborn beauty. But mothers — they are the irreplaceable treasure, the North Star by which we navigate our lives long after they’re gone. Thank God for mothers.

Timeless Wisdom

In honor of the power of motherhood everywhere, I pulled some quotes about motherhood from the book of Proverbs:

“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.” — Proverbs 31:26

“Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it.” — Proverbs 22:6

“A wise son brings joy to his father, but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.” — Proverbs 10:1

“May your father and mother rejoice; may she who gave you birth be joyful!” — Proverbs 23:25

“A wise son makes a glad father, but a foolish man despises his mother.” — Proverbs 15:20

“Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her.” — Proverbs 31:28

“A wife of noble character is her husband’s crown, but a disgraceful wife is like decay in his bones.” — Proverbs 12:4

“A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.” — Proverbs 31:10

“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.” — Proverbs 31:29-30

“For wisdom is more precious than rubies, and nothing you desire can compare with her.” — Proverbs 8:11

Eric Rhoads