Mother's Day can be for children too

Mother’s Day is a time to tell our mother’s how much we love them.

I love you, Mom.

But how many of us mothers take time to show our children how much they have blessed our lives as well? Because of them, we have the greatest job descriptions on Earth that no man can fill.

On this Mother’s Day, I’ve written this missive of love to my daughter.

My Dearest Little Laura:

On this Mother’s Day - With all the maternal love you can only begin to imagine - I wish for you a lifetime of failures, setbacks, heartaches and sorrows.

I want you to feel rejection, like I have so often felt, and I want you to be insecure at times.

Our world tells us insecurity is a bad thing. I do not agree. How else will you feel the joy that I have felt so many times in my life as I’ve witnessed the Lord’s plans for me slowly unfold before my eyes and fall into place in the most unexpected ways?

• I want you to have your share of bad hair days - so people will appreciate your inner beauty like I do.

• I want you to trip over your high heels during your quinceañera - so you will know there will always be hands to help you back on your feet, no matter how old you are.

• I want it to rain on your wedding day - So you will know true love can weather any storm.

• I want you to fly second-class - so when you move up to a first-class seat in life, you will remember where you started.

• I want you to make a fool of yourself at some time or another (we all do) - so you can appreciate God’s infinite wisdom.

• I want you to feel rejection - so you will accept other people’s differences.

• I want you to know what it’s like to be in need - so you will realize the importance of helping others.

• I want you to stumble and fall as you aim for your dreams - so you will feel God’s hands lifting you up.

• I want you to have self-doubts and constantly be second-guessing yourself - so you will turn to God for answers.

• I want you to make mistakes, although not the same ones I have made, but mistakes nonetheless - so you are not quick to judge others.

• I want you to be aware of your own personal flaws - so you are not quick to point out other people’s imperfections.

• I want you to feel loneliness at some time in your life - so you will always seek God.

• I want you to feel emptiness in your life - so you will recognize the void only God can fill.

• I want you to experience setbacks - so you will grow stronger through perseverance.

• I want you to fail once or twice - so you can relish in the bigger victories God has in store for you.

• I want you to be humble - so you will always place all of your confidence in God.

• I want you to experience feelings of despair - so you can celebrate the miracles God will work through you.

• I want you to know hardships - so your eyes see all of God’s blessings.

What I am trying to say, mija, is that I want you to be successful in life, but not in the ways today’s world attempts to define success. True success will not make you rich on the outside but rich on the inside.

My job as your mother is not to pamper you, but to prepare you for life. That means showing you how to become an adult until you are grown, and then showing you how to become a child all over again -- because that is what Jesus tells us: “Whosoever shall not receive the Kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein” (Luke 18:17).

And just like I told you when you were younger and fell down from your roller blades, I will keep on telling you as you get older, “Get right back up again, mija, and keep rolling!”

— Love always, Mommy