She Is A Living Presence

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! 

PASS THIS ON TO ALL THE MOTHERS and CHILDREN 
YOU KNOW. 

MAY WE NEVER TAKE OUR MOTHERS FOR GRANTED. 

Author Unknown