Mothers

My Mother - Sarah Helen Milner Meyers

Lots of holidays and occasions we celebrate we don't know their origins, and some mean more to us than others. Mother's Day is one of those particular celebrations that has significant meaning to many.

Many people are very grateful for having a mother, some I know unfortunately have not had a positive relationship with their mothers, and that's a sad thing. I am always so grateful that I found both my friend and mentor in my mother, and as the years go by, I become even more grateful and miss her deeply.

Mother's Day has become commercialized in many ways much like all the other holidays but when it does come around most of us do think about our mothers whether they are still living or have left this mortal coil. I am no different and it is the same for me, I am thinking about my mother today.

Today I also think of motherless children, and childless mothers who can find comfort in knowing there is a Great Mother like Demeter in search of her child Persephone, who always loves unconditionally, who watches over us, and is closer to us than our own heart, and we can aspire to be like her.

We all have memories of our mothers, and I hope your memories, are all good ones.

The Great Mother - Catherine Meyers - Egg Tempera on Porcelain Tile 2015

Mother's Day

Sarah Helen Milner- Meyers

My mother loved pansies, and when I see them I always think of her. They are not only beautiful but very resilient like my mum. She always would say pansies look like they have a face. She died almost twenty years ago, though it seems like yesterday. She lives always very close to me, in the small of my heart.

When I reflect on mother's today, and my own mother, the word that comes to my mind is tenderness. I remember those small tender loving moments of my mother's love, and they are very precious to me. These take up the biggest part of my heart. Most of us have those kind of tender memories of our mothers, whether it be a touch, a word, a smile, or a tear that she wiped from our eyes. All of these convey a mother's love that cannot be underestimated in it's power, to heal, to transform, to encourage, and most of all to love.
We do not have to be a biological mother to mother, and many of us choose our mothers, and we choose our children. We love and can love them just as much as if they were part of our biological family, if not more so because we do choose to love them.

The day before yesterday I was at a friend's house who is a young mother of two little children. She told me of this story about a mother and father who had just become new parents of twins. One of the twins was healthy and the other was not, both being premature. The one little baby boy had actually been declared dead. The parents had accepted this, and had come to terms with this fact.
 The mother spent the next two hours cuddling and speaking to the baby, with the father close by her side. What happened next, was nothing more than miraculous.

National Day of Honour - Moments Defined - Mothers

Dust Series - Jessica Wiebe

The hype of Mother's Day can make it a difficult holiday, particularly for mother's who have lost children, and for those who not longer have mother's alive, or for those who could never be mothers, for whatever reason. Unfortunately, like so many of our Western holidays the media commercial hype is mostly overwhelming and continues to relegate the holidays to consuming and spending money. We have really lost our way in understanding the meaning of what is really important in life, that being our relationships and that we belong to one another.
 

Yesterday was a National Day of Honour, a tribute held in Ottawa Canada, to honour those who fought and served in Afghanistan. The Huffington Post had a good article covering the day. It is truly a bitter sweet tribute, considering the way the government does not provide veterans with the support and help they so desperately need, especially regarding PTSD. As well with Mother's Day being tomorrow, my thoughts and prayers are with the mother's, who will not be celebrating with their beloved sons and daughters.

Artists have historically recorded war. There is a now a new generation of artists doing the same. I think of J.P. Cormier and his song Hometown Battlefield which recently went viral online. A moving and powerful truthful tribute to our veterans everywhere.


Another, is the visual artist Jessica Wiebe. She was a reservist at the tender age of twenty, for the Canadian Armed Forces, was serving in Afghanistan, and is now attending the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design in Halifax. I am certain her family is full of gratitude that she returned alive.

Recently, Jessica won an art competition for emerging artists through Taking It Global, entitled Defining Moments.

Canadians everywhere are deeply proud of, and supportive of all of our Vets, none more so, than the families of those who have served. I wished we felt and could say the same, for our Canadian government.

God bless our Veterans, their families and our mothers everywhere.

Defining Moments.

Defining Moments.