PRAYING MOTHERS

I don't know how Nanay and Tatay did it but during their time, you were an oddity if all you managed to have were one or two kids.  

My mother gave birth to eight children and İ could not remember her taking a leave off from work--- yet she did it all. 

İt helped of course that my elder siblings had been trained to mind the little ones, but I remember that even if Nanay was out making a living, Lola Felipa guarded us like a hawk---though my brother Dan and naughtiest sister Malu still managed to sneak out with their barkadas to either climb trees or frolic in the river. 

Well, all six girls and two brothers soon left town, studied in Manila, then had their own families---24 grandkids plus 24 great grandchildren multiplying Nanay's joy. 

İ still wonder how she did it, because when my turn came, i found motherhood a test of grit, patience and determination. Nanay was not a woman of many words but her modelling stuck with me, even if I rebelled sometimes. When my husband Jack and I had our kids, İ found myself doing exactly the same things she did.  

The scripture is so true! "Train up a child in the way he should go; even when he is old he will not depart from it." (Proverbs 22:6) How Nanay must have prayed! 

That's the very same secret place I discovered whenever I found myself helpless about our children's situations. And this mother's heart has enlarged some. Oh yes, I will always have a special place for our children and their spouses. But the bigger room has already been taken by the little ones! 

Just the thought of our grandkids sends joyful jolts to this grandmother's heart. Their presence alone can light up a dimly-lit room. 

Kind of makes me imagine our Father's heart. He loves kids, or those who are kids at heart---those who come to Him with a confidence that He will embrace and love them unconditionally, no matter what they've done. 

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19:14) 

Even if I'm officially a senior citizen and a mother twice over, I can come to Jesus---wrinkles, brokenness, inabilities, failures and all---and be assured that He will answer and grant my heart's desires. 

This mother desires only this: That my children and their children as well as those who will be born after them will honor the Lord with their lives and their substance all the days of their blessed lives. 

(Earlier published at CBNAsia.com)