Mothers Are Great

Last July, inspite of feeling that my days would never end with endless work, errands, and responsibilities, I decided to go out of my comfort zone and sign up for Jim Paredes' "Tapping the Creative Universe Workshop". So, for one week from 7 to 9 pm, I was out of the house and rediscovering my passions, unearthing my creativity, and interacting with people who were similarly searching for the same things.

I atrribute my being able to put up this blog to this workshop and Jim's mentoring. I cannot exactly put into words how the workshop had changed me but it definitely made me yearn to write, to create more. The workshop did not only give me time to rediscover my creative side but also time to reflect on my most important task of being a mother.

One of Jim's assignment in the workshop was to write something about the topic, "Why I Am Great?". It took me some time to decide on what to write since I have never really thought of myself as great, either as a wife, a mother, a daughter, a sister, or even a lawyer. However, in the course of reflecting on who I really am, I have discovered that I am, in my own simple way, great, notwithstanding my quirks, my faults, my omissions, and my shortcomings.

I am reprinting below what I have written as a tribute to all mothers who love fiercely and unconditionally without expecting anything in return:

Why I Am Great

I am great simply because I am a child of God. I was not created through random acts of the Creator and put on earth to live mindlessly and senselessly. I was created for a purpose and this makes me great. In my years of existence, I have come to realize my greatness, in every facet of my entire being, the manifestations of which have always caught me by surprise, delight, and even disbelief.

I have a great brain. I have foresight and intuition. I can sense things and events that have not yet happened. I can bring to fruition things I have just visualized in my mind. I listen to people's opinions and know that they are up to no good. I can come up and find solutions to the most intricate problems.

I have a great heart. Apart from my love for my family and children, I have a heart huge enough to share the same love for the underprivileged and unwanted. I have a heart capable of breaking when bombarded with pain and suffering but, at the same time, I have a heart capable of healing on its own after all the scars.

I have great arms and hands. They help ease the pain of another person or being. They can carry loads of goods desperately needed by the wounded and sick. They can create inspiring words for those in despair. They can bring warmth and protection to the vulnerable.

I have great legs and feet. These can traverse miles of dust and mud to reach the uninformed and uneducated. These can bring me to far-flung places to bring joy and comfort. The same feet and legs helped me to overcome my greatest fear.

I have a great smile. This is the smile which brought me down the aisle to marry the man I love. This is the smile that broke barriers of indifference. This is the same smile which resulted in more smiles that seemed to lighten up an entire darkened room.

These are all the embodiments of my greatness. Although in my being human, I have experienced weakness in one form or another, these sparks of greatness within me have always been my salvation.