So NOT true. It is simply accepted by our loved ones with no question, or surprise. We pour ourselves into our families and they simply take it.
And it's not a bad thing! Would you want your kids or husband to be surprised everytime you did something thoughtful? Ok yes, but the point I'm making is, you have made your abundant love the "norm". You have instilled in your family that THIS - ALL that you do, is what a mother's love looks like.
It's a whole new way to look at it. And really we should wear it as a badge of honor. Because some day, your kids or husband will have an interaction with another mother or kids or spouse that will open their eyes to see that how YOU LOVE, may not be the "norm" after all. There is so much negativity, judgement and just plain awfulness in our world, we should be honored to be able to give our families the foundation of what true love, motherhood and the love of Christ looks like lived out.
My mom always got up in the mornings, even in high school, and would pack lunches, make sure we got off ok. I had a friend who would always secretly hope me or my brother wouldn't want our orange because my mom would slice the oranges in rings and this friend's mom had never done that. :D Or my mom would always say goodnight with a song a kiss, secret handshake, something. We never went to bed alone. "Don't let the bed bugs bite!" and we'd say back "If they do, take your shoe and smack um till they're black n blue!"
My mom always cooked a big dinner, she always kept food/cereal/snacks on hand we could go eat during the day. She trusted us to play outside unsupervised, or cook our own lunches. She would read out loud to us, long books that may take weeks to finish, she'd read till her voice got too tired. She'd wake up before everyone to pray and read the word, to make sure she was her best for us all.
And she'd always say before we left, "Remember you're a Dargis!"
I try to make my own small little imprints on my family too. I hope that I can remember that it's the small and yet large outpourings of our mother hearts that creates in our family the expectation that this is what real love, God's love, looks like.
