A Daughter's Gift

When I was little, I would always pick the dandelions that grew in our yard and give them to my mom. She would always light up, and gush about how beautiful they were, putting them into a vase and on display. To her, they weren't weeds, rather they were a beautiful gift from her baby girl.

The other day, I started the 54 day Rosary Novena. This is my second attempt at it, and I'm already beginning to see the blessings Mama is bestowing upon me. The guide likens Hail Mary as a beautiful rose, and the entire Rosary as a beautiful bouquet of roses fastened together with the Prayer of Spiritual Communion for Mama to put upon her brow.

Here's the thing: I don't think my Hail Marys are roses. I get distracted, and often indulge the distractions. Sometimes I don't want to pray, and if I say the Rosary, it's because I'm forcing myself to. Sadly, my prayer is rarely done out of pure love for our Mama.

When I'm done with my prayer, I often don't feel like I have a beautiful wreath of roses, rather a pile of weeds.

But our mother loves us. And when we give her our dandelions, she accepts them with love and gratitude. She loves that we try.

My confirmation saint, St. Therese of Lisieux, said this about Mama: "What a joy to remember that she is our Mother! Since she loves us and knows our weakness, what have we to fear?"

When our mothers look at us, they don't see us as purely the mistakes we make, or our negative personality traits. Rather, we are their children. Their imperfect, beautiful children. Mama Mary is no different. She loves us, warts and all.

May our prayer grow and mature, and may we understand the love our Mama in heaven has for us, and our imperfection.