What to means to be a mother, humbly submitted by one who isn't.

You are a witness. 

You see the highlight reel - their laughter, their accomplishments, their growth, their joy, their successes.
You watch them stand in the sun and you feel the warmth.

You wrestle the dark - their cries, their screw-ups, their doubts, their heartbreaks, their failures.
You watch them stand in the rain and you feel chilled to the bone.

You hold the moments that make up the days that make up the weeks that make up the months that make up the years that make up the life of your child. 

You are the guardians of the stories that make up their history. You give them the material to build their personal narrative. "Who am I?" is first answered by you.

As a witness, you testify.
You repeat the truth the enemy wants to silence -

You matter. You have worth. You bring meaning. 

You witness to them. They do not arrive believing. They must call upon the name of the Lord to be saved. 

How then will they call on Him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in Him whom they have not heard? And how will they hear without a preacher? - Rom. 10:14, NAS

That's you - built-in preacher, good news teller, a God witness in their midst. 

You keep the faith. You hold the line. You never give up, no matter the prodigal roads they wander. 

And we, the they of this equation, don't realize the cost of this call, this divine commission to be a witness of us, to us, for us until one day we become a witness to another.

Thank you, Mama. You have been faithful and true.