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A
Mother's Walk
written for
Good Housekeeping Magazine in 1933 by ~ Temple Bailey
The young
mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long
way?" she asked. And the guide said: "Yes, and the way is
hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end
will be better than the beginning." But the young mother was happy,
and she would not believe that anything could be better than these
years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them
along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams; and the sun shone
on them, and the young Mother cried, "Nothing will ever be
lovelier than this."
Then the night
came, and the storm, and the path was dark, and the children shook with
fear and cold, and the mother drew them close and covered them with her
mantle, and the children said, "Mother, we are not afraid, for you
are near, and no harm can come." And the morning came, and there
was a hill ahead, and the children climbed and grew weary, and the
mother was weary. But at all times she said to the children, "A
little patience and we are there." So the children climbed, and
when they reached the top they said, "Mother, we would not have
done it without you." And the mother, when she lay down at night
looked up at the stars and said, "This is a better day than the
last, for my children have learned fortitude in the face of hardness.
Yesterday I gave them courage. Today, I have given them strength.
And the next
day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of war and hate
and evil, and the children groped and stumbled ,and the mother said:
"Look up. Lift your eyes to the light." And the children
looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory, and it guided them
beyond the darkness. And that night the Mother said, "This is the
best day of all, for I have shown my children God."
And the days
went on, and the weeks and the months and the years, and the mother grew
old and she was little and bent. But her children were tall and strong,
and walked with courage. And when the way was rough, they lifted her,
for she was as light as a feather; and at last they came to a hill, and
beyond they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. And
mother said: "I have reached the end of my journey.
And now I know
the end is better than the beginning, for my children can walk alone,
and their children after them" And the children said, " You
will always walk with us, Mother, even when you have gone through the
gates." And they stood and watched her as she went on alone, and
the gates closed after her. And they said: "We cannot see her, but
she is with us still.
A Mother like
ours is more than a memory. She is a living presence." Your Mother
is always with you. She's the whisper of the leaves as you walk down the
street, she's the smell of bleach in your freshly laundered socks, she's
the cool hand on your brow when you're not well. Your Mother lives
inside your laughter. And she's crystallized in every tear drop.
She's the
place you came from, your first home; and she's the map you follow with
every step you take. She's your first love and your first heartbreak,
and nothing on earth can separate you...Not time, not space...not even
death!
MAY WE NEVER
TAKE OUR MOTHERS FOR GRANTED.
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