Learned this poem as a boy back in the Stone Age and I think it represents the beauty of Motherhood exquisitely. Yeah, I know that not all mothers live up to this standard but that misses the point entirely. What this poem/song points to is the critical importance of having a mother’s presence in a child’s life. Being a good mother, warts and all, is one of the most important callings in the entire world. Too often I hear voices denigrating motherhood and that is both a shame and a sin. If you are blessed today to have a mother like the one exemplified in the poem below in your life, give God the glory and thank him for his immeasurable gift of love to you made manifest in your mama. Happy Mothers’ Day to all you mamas out there! For those with ears to hear, listen and understand.

‘M’ is for the million things she gave me,

‘O’ means only that she’s growing old,

‘T’ is for the tears she shed to save me,

‘H’ is for her heart of purest gold;

‘E’ is for her eyes, with love-light shining,

‘R’ means right, and right she’ll always be,

Put them all together, they spell ‘MOTHER,’

A word that means the world to me.

© Howard Johnson, 1915