Take off the Mask Mothers

BY VANESSA HENDERSON

Take off THE MASK MOTHERS

As I look back on the past, I realize that I have truly worn a mask for a long time. Yes, I said it! So, you can admit it, or you can continue to wear your mask.

How do I know this to be true? First, a mask is a covering that covers your mouth so what you are saying isn’t clear and no one can see your lips. With 2 Timothy 2:15, it says, “do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who need not be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth.” Have we lived that?

I made sure to always have the look, say the right things, be in the right places. As I left my family to do things such as working, going to school, and doing what I had to do to put food on the table, I made sure I always had the right look, said the right things, and be in the right places. At that time, I thought I was doing what would better their lives, but did it?

I was a working mother of three children, and wanted to make their life better than the life I had experienced. Although if you ask me about their grade school and college years, I can’t really tell you much about it because I wasn’t “there.”

I ask myself, “how can I fix their broken hearts?” I can only hope that I will get the opportunity to revisit those unforgivable places in my daughter’s heart. Over the past 20 years, I have felt the results of my actions.

Now some twenty years later, after the heart aches, illness and a lot of time being alone. I realize if I could change some things, would I really want to, probably not. Because I know that I only did what I believed to be the best for my children at the time and they all finished college and are doing well! Do I regret the time that I missed when they were younger, yes! I cannot change it, but I want to find that space where we can enjoy where we are now and the rest of our lives together.

One day my daughters will be in the position I was in, mothers, and how will they handle it all? Will they, too, say they weren’t home because they had to work to make a better life for their children, their daughters? Truth will always find its way back.

So, as Queens of our beautiful Princesses lets learn to enjoy each other no matter where we are or what we are doing!

So, take off your mask of forgiveness, mother, and live!