Ain't Love Grand...

Yesterday morning i asked a warm and sleepy eyed Bradley...

 if he was ready to wear his Summer uniform to school...

he agreed readily...being a 'hot' child... and i cautioned

him to take care not to fall...

 that he would get hurt...

 now that his 'running legs' were bare...

Time to fetch him revealed scratched and raw knees...

some silly child had tripped him and laughed...

[best i not find you, you little rotter]

Bradley immediately began to express fear for bath time...

 and the burn that would surly come... 

And burn it did....!

It's not fun when your child is in pain...

even this kind of fleeting childhood pain...

pain is pain hey...

distress is distress...

I really tried everything i could think of to spare him...

 as much as i humanly could spare him...

it burned anyway...

he cried...

a lot...

"Mom...meee ...

Mom...meee it's sore...

owie ... owie ...

Mommy it's burning..."

and the tears flowed freely...

and the little voice shook...

and the little body hunched over... protectively...

and my heart bled for him...

and i was stressed...

enough for this thought to pop into my mind...

"Mothers really do get the worst of it..."

feeling a little resentful...

i wondered where the father was...?

 why he was not coming in to check...?

to help...

i would have come running...

but then I AM THE MOTHER

i have no choice...

it's instinctive 

I am always to be found in the trenches of motherhood...

where all the really hard work happens...

where all the sweat and tears happen...

where the love and service happens...

where almost constant and persistent...

 prayer for them happens...

where the soul shaping happens...

where the lessons happen...

the bitter ones and the sweet ones...

where the bonds are formed and strengthened...

tried and tested...

bonds that WILL stand the test of time...

My child is hurt and in his pain he cries out my name

and i am there...

 to help and comfort and soothe 

Yes we mothers have the worst of it...

and through the worst...

 we have the very best of it too...

Ain't Love Grand