Mother, I Am: A Love That Keeps Becoming
- Michele Renee
- Aug 14, 2025
- 4 min read
Mother, I Am
Happy Mother’s Day, mamas! Originally written: May 14, 2017
“Her children rise up and call her blessed.” — Proverbs 31:28
Mothers are forever changing. There is a sacred moment at the beginning when we lose our solitude; we are no longer only our own we become theirs. In that instant, a mother is born. 💞
One day it seemed a star fell from the sky right into our arms. 🌟 The connection seeped through our skin into our veins; it swam through our blood; and every day every minute they became more and more a part of our essence.
“Your children are not your children. They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself. They come through you but not from you.” — Kahlil Gibran
The funny thing? It doesn’t take long until the day comes when they begin to want to go back to the sky to shine in their own constellations. They pull away as they learn to let go; meanwhile, we count all the ways to hold on, because giving them back to the sky is so painful. Yet as mothers we are blessed to know they are still ours, even while they are out there shining for the world. ✨
A mother is born. 💞
We spent so much time tracking their growth, we stopped tracking our own. And oh, how we mothers have grown we finally understand the true meaning of not leaving another behind and unconditional love.
“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” — Joshua 1:9
We try so hard to be confident and calm in front of our children, when in reality we don’t always know what we’re doing. (Spoiler: no one does, and love is still enough.)
Research note: Anthropologist Dana Raphael coined the term matrescence to describe the profound transition into motherhood much like adolescence, it’s a season of identity shift, physical change, and emotional re-patterning. If you’ve ever felt like you were “becoming someone new” while raising someone new, that’s matrescence.
Being a mother is one of the deepest joys I know. It is simple and true. We all change, again and again and still we see each other the same, because once they were in our arms, our lives were not our own anymore. 💗
They get older and sharper; we get older and a little slower. We still need each other, but in new ways. And just like when they were babies when we made them feel secure and loved, and they knew they were never alone because we were always there they will do the same for us. No one quite understands the how or the why; it just happens.
“Love is patient, love is kind… it always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.” — 1 Corinthians 13:4–7
Here, we have mothered from the heart; and little did we know we were building our own inheritance of love. Our kids may leave us, and we will always be their mothers, still feeling it all even when we are a little pushed aside.
Once a mom; forever a mom.
Courage (and the Roach Tale 🪳)
On Mother’s Day, I thank my kids for giving me courage. When I was little and saw a roach, I would freeze and scream until a parent rescued me. I remember the day my baby Marisa was in her walker and a roach scurried near. I was terrified but I faced my fear head-on to get my baby safe.
Being a mother, you learn to face roaches of all kinds literal and metaphorical. You take risks for your kids. You battle when the fight isn’t fair. You become brave in ways you didn’t know you could be.
“Courage doesn’t always roar. Sometimes courage is the quiet voice at the end of the day saying, ‘I will try again tomorrow.’” — Mary Anne Radmacher
The Art of Letting Go (Without Losing Love)
Separation is not abandonment; it’s the sacred choreography of growth.
Psychologists call it separation individuation: children step away to become themselves, while we learn the art of holding space without holding them back. We don’t stop being mother; we just change how we mother. We don’t stop protecting; we just protect their becoming.
“To everything there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven.” — Ecclesiastes 3:1
A Blessing for Mothers
May your hands remember their strength,
may your heart remember its softness,
and may your love be the home they carry wherever they go.
May you always know: you did not fail, you formed.
You built a human, and in the building, you were built, too. 💐
.•¨.¸.•¨.¸¸.•¨`• ƸӜƷ
Happy Mother’s Day
¨.¸.•¨*. ¸.•*¨*.¸¸.•*¨*•.
We spent so much time tracking their growth, we stopped tracking ours and oh, how we mothers have grown.
They are still ours, even when they shine for the world.
Once a mom; forever a mom.
#MothersDay #OnceAMomForeverAMom #Matrescence #LettingGo #MotherLove #FamilyFaith #ThreeGenerations 💐✨
Final Amen
Lord, thank You for the gift of children and the strength to love them well. Teach us to hold and to release, to protect and to empower, to be brave and to be soft. Bless every mother who is growing as she grows a soul. Amen.
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