Thank you for the love of a child and the gift of being a mother

By Cindy Jury

Mother/child love reminds me of a puppy’s kisses ... but without the bad breath.
The other morning, I woke up in a foul mood. Was it the sinus headache, the restless night or the desire to sleep just one more minute?

I padded blindly down the hall toward the coffeepot. The children were chattering happily while eating pancakes and pouring juice (the sugary-sweet kind). My heart knew their morning noise and happiness was a blessing, but my allergies exploding in my head echoed a big “Ouch.”

My immediate focus was to get to the coffeepot before anyone got hurt. Perhaps after I had a cup of java, I could give our children the love they deserved. For now I chose “mother’s guilt hell” and a cup of coffee.
But something was amiss. Something was in my way. I could almost hear the music from the movie “Jaws.” I looked down to see that darn puppy circling me like a tiny shark. She would not let me pass.

“Okay! I give up!” I screeched.

I picked the fluffy white thing up. She nestled in close to me and covered my face with wet kisses. I tried to lift my chin up high to avoid an unwanted lick on the lips, as well as questionable puppy breath. Missy then began her own unique puppy purring –– noises that in dog speak mean “Oh, I am so happy, just get a little closer and my life will be complete.”

All I could do was laugh hard and smile. I looked at Emma, who was observing all this longingly. I put the furry thing down. I hugged and kissed my8-year old daughter. I interrupted my son, Ian, who was in the midst of a pile of pancakes. I hugged him and gave him my best “Good morning, Honeychild!” They both loved me back in their own unique ways. Life was looking up. Oh, the love of a puppy!

This caused me to remember the day I accidentally stepped on the puppy. She screeched in pain, but when I picked her up she covered me in kisses. “Wait a minute,” I thought, “ I have seen this kind of love before.”
I was reminded of the unconditional love of a mother and child. Sometimes we step on each other emotionally and hurt each other. Deep down we want to come back together to love and be loved. This kind of love reminds me of forgiving puppy kisses, but without the bad breath. It also gives us just a little taste of Jesus’ love. Of course, we are all much more complicated than puppies and thankfully created wonderfully and beautifully in God’s image. But what a great model of love.

I understand that as children grow older, their expressions toward us don’t always look like love or ours toward them when we are frustrated, especially in the teen years. But it makes me ask an important question: How many issues in life are brought about from our desires as children to be loved, accepted and encouraged by our parents? Perhaps we can learn something from a simple puppy.