Motherhood is filled with thankless tasks and daily obligations. You can delegate and outsource, but the soul of motherhood is to bring unseen comfort to those around you. There are those shining moments when it all seems worth it for the most superficial reasons of praise and gratification.
A four-year-old carefully drew a picture of a stylish blonde woman. Hair bobbed with bangs—just like someone you might know. The dress, modest and tasteful, was blue. Nothing else adorned the page, just a beautiful woman.
With a thrill of vanity, the woman saw in the black lettering of a methodical young writer: “MOM.”
“Is that a picture of me?” she asked confidently.
“No. Mom is the only word I know how to write,” the girl replied as if this should be obvious.
The deflation and hilarity! As the fine lines of sunny days, frustrations, and smiles creep in. As the daily cups of strong coffee irreparably alter teeth. As hair once pin straight develops unpredictably with white strands. As the ravages of time assert themselves slowly and then suddenly, promising decades of further damage and undoing, there is one relief for the woman who has daughters. The beauty has not been merely drained but planted to take root in little women growing in unique expression of that beauty every day.
Beauty is not limited to perfection. It can be an elegant expression of good living, refined taste embodied in all the accessories of a modest but fine life. There’s nothing quite like the honesty of little children to remind us how far from perfection we stand.
