My oldest daughter, a high school senior, recently made a monumental decision: To attend a very beautiful Catholic college far from home.
After being on hand to answer questions as she filled out the paperwork, Daddy yawned and started heading upstairs.
“Where are you going?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him.
“What?” he shrugged. “She’s going to college. My job is done. I’m going to bed.”
Honestly, Daddy constantly makes me laugh and want to slap him at the same time.
Such sarcastic wit simply does not run through the heart of this mother.
A mother’s heart
Instead, my heart is full of memories of my little girl, especially the first day of preschool when she was three years old.
With trepidation, I held her hand as we approached the brightly colored classroom.
The kind teacher smiled at her, and my daughter let go of my hand and entered the classroom without even blinking an eye or giving me a second glance.
I stepped just out of sight in the hallway and cried.
She was ready for her next stage of growth, even though I was not.
Recognizing God’s will
Now I face the same situation as I realize my time for holding her hand is running short.
My little girl is now an adult, ready to enter the next stage of life. And I am back in the hallway again, holding back tears.
But this time as she lets go of my hand, I am holding for dear life to the hand of Our Blessed Mother, who fills me with a calm peace in the knowledge that this decision is indeed God’s will.
My daughter is going where He wants her to be, and with a newfound trust from the deepest part of my soul, I know He will provide for her needs — and mine — with grace obtained through the help of Our Blessed Mother.
With a mother’s help
Here on Earth, mothers provide for the basic needs of our children as they grow. We hold out our hands for them as they test their ability to stand up and then walk forward. Sometimes they fall, but Mom is always there, offering her hand.
“The action of a mother is undoubtedly the action of a very loving soul; and it is by the action of her body as well as of her soul that she expresses her maternal tenderness for her child, sympathizing with him, laughing with him, consoling him, encouraging him, helping him in his trials and his difficulties” (Life of Union with Mary by Fr. Emile Neubert, p. 53).
Reaching out to Our Blessed Mother
Our Blessed Mother does the same for us interiorly as we step out with trust, shakily at first, into the lives Our Lord wills for us.
As I let go of my daughter’s hand and allow her to find her own way once again, with each moment I cling ever more tightly to the hand of Our Blessed Mother, who envelops me with the true otherworldly motherly understanding that only she can give.
She knows my needs, loves me beyond my comprehension, and helps give me the grace I need.
I have only to reach out to her and ask.
Julianne Nornberg, mother of four children, is a teacher’s aide at St. John School in Waunakee.