how motherhood changes us

Why are children such a blessing?

Because their little laughs and tiny voices and sweet faces fill our homes with so much joy.

Because their cries and constant needs teach us compassion and selflessness.

Because their mirroring personalities encourage us to become better versions of ourselves.

Because their love for each other, and our love for them, give us a greater understanding of God's love for us.

Our nieces and nephews, they change us, because they give us the first glimpse of parental love. Our hearts swell with pride as we feel we would do anything for these little people who are at once living ghosts of our own childhoods and bright shining hopes for our futures. We love them more than we've loved anything before.

And then... our firstborn children, they change us in a way that, even after all of the warnings, we never saw coming, because they fill our hearts with a different love we didn't know before and our hearts literally (ok not literally but in the most real spiritual sense) explode. And our one little child is the most precious gem in the universe and we can't imagine ever loving anything else that much.

And then... our second children, they change us by making us realize that yes, we can love something (someone) else that much. That lo and behold, although it seemed impossible, there is room in our hearts for another. That maybe there isn't just one most precious gem in the universe after all.

And then... our third children, they change us in perhaps the most meaningful way of all, because they make us see that all children are the most precious gem in the universe. They all matter, they are all unique and special and irreplaceable children of God. Every single one. Not just ours, but yours and theirs.

I am so thankful for this motherhood and how it's changing me. Happy mother's day to all you mamas, wherever you are on your motherhood journey.

xo, a.