Mother’s Day Thoughts: Humility and Self-Sacrifices

 Happy Mother’s Day!

Me and my newest granddaughter Ellara Zoë, born 3/6/23

Humility - to place the value of others above one’s own; a virtue, a strength; to free oneself from pride and arrogance - especially in a world full of boasting to get ahead of others in rank, stature, and popularity(Webster’s Dictionary and Momma Tina).

 

Jesus humbled himself by taking on the nature of a servant, and humbling himself even to die on the cross for us, committing the ultimate act of humility - to sacrifice oneself for another.

 

Placing the life of another above one’s own is a transformative experience. I didn’t think I could ever do something like that, or ever want to. But that was before I became a mother. I learned that mother’s put their lives on the line for their children.

 

My realization came through a dream, but it was real to me at the time. It was 37 years ago, and I never forgot it. 

 

I was a first time mother to a beautiful baby boy. When my son was about two months old, I had a dream that my baby and I were lying in bed and a huge snake was coming through our bedroom door. And not just any snake, it was a giant snake whose head filled the doorway. The snake raised its head to strike, mouth wide open and dark, like the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, with fangs exposed and dripping with venom. 

 

I turned and looked at my beautiful baby boy, lying next to me cradled in my left arm sleeping peacefully. Somehow I knew the snake would be satisfied eating only one of us. At that moment, I chose to offer myself to the snake in order for my child to live. I turned back towards the snake and stretched out my right arm. My gesture said, “Take me.” Surprisingly, I wasn’t scared, I had no second thoughts, there wasn’t time. I only knew the pain I was about to experience was worth saving my innocent baby. And then I woke up… And realized I wasn’t dead, it was “only a dream,” what I call an “imaginary situation with real emotions.”

 

Making a conscious decision of death to save my son by giving myself freely to my biggest fear, snakes, told me a great deal about myself and the transformative experience of being a mother. I was extremely grateful the experience was a dream, but I knew without a doubt, I would give my life to save my son. 

 

The experience of being a mother also transformed how I saw others. I began to see everyone as once a precious baby too, even the most hardened and violent acting individuals, were once someone’s precious baby.