The Tribune

By Rev. Angela Palacious

My own mother has been dead for almost twenty years. I was her only child by birth, but knew from an early age that I was not the only child that she carried in her heart. As a teacher, she loved “her children.” The number is countless really, but if each year approximately thirty students left the Bermuda schools (her country of origin), Southern Senior School, Western Junior School, St. Anne’s Primary School, and St. Matthew’s Primary School for almost fifty years, that comes to about fifteen hundred students. Add to this all the ones who left at other times, ones mentored from other schools, and the second and third generations, who received some of her values from their parents, then her motherhood extends from shore to shore.

No doubt the same is true for all teachers, youth leaders, Sunday School teachers, and other persons who take a keen interest in shaping the lives of young persons in their neighbourhoods, extended families, and all of the children and grandchildren of their friends. We each have a great part to play in influencing the future of our country.

The home is such an intimate place to learn at a leisurely pace. What was your home like? How can you improve on the experience that you had? If it left much to be desired then ask for help to change your “lived” experience to a “learned” experience and break the generational cycle. We do not want to pass down values and life-styles that are detrimental to our children’s emotional, moral and spiritual health.

Too many children, in this day and age, can tax parenting skills to the limit. Plan to give your child, or children, the best of your time, talent, treasure and prayer along with educational opportunities that you might not have had, so that higher education is an expectation in whatever field chosen. Instill in them a sense of wanting to be a blessing by promoting values that build a nation and character. If you are at work long hours trying to feed so many mouths, you cannot invest the time that is more valuable for them to have.

If you are already a mother, see the beauty inside of yourself and not only focus on the outside. If you cannot see it clearly, then ask someone to guide you to find a spiritual director who will help you to build your God-based self-esteem. In fact, you are your children’s primary spiritual director, along with their father, and it is vital for you to have an idea of what that really means.

This is a wonderful time of the year to say thank God for the women who loved us, and helped us to come this far. It is also a good time to evaluate our progress as mothers and to see the tremendous responsibility we have to make our efforts a pleasing sacrifice to God. Let our goal be to help the next generation of young women to aim to reduce the numbers born out of wedlock and raise the standard of parenting. Let us all “mother” all of God’s children with our best example and prayerful efforts.