A Mother's Capacity to Love by Tina Erwin

     There are people who seem to be everyone’s Mom.  We have heard of “everyman” but is there such as thing as “every mother?” There has to be. There has to be that person who has such a tremendous capacity to love that they warmly embrace everyone they meet. Their capacity to love is not based on a finite amount. Their capacity to love is based on the cosmic principle that there is an infinite capacity to love within people. If there is such an infinite capacity, then think how much they can love.

       This love is based on a feeling of warmth and generosity that lives within them. When you meet them, they are not afraid to hug you. Some of them will even hug you even if you are sick, or have a cold. Some will just love you if you haven’t shaved or done hair and makeup. When you get a hug from them, they really put their heart into it. They hold you close so that you can feel their warmth. Often, they are completely unaware that they love in this way.

       What is this love? Is it possible that they are looking beyond the surface and seeking the goodness in every person they meet? Is it possible that this person is looking for the fascinating aspects of every soul to see the hand of the Creator in all of His creations? 

       If God can love this soul, then there has to be something there for anyone of us to love. This loving person is the one who will give you the benefit of the doubt until you prove to her otherwise. Does this person always have to be female? Of course not, men and women are equally capable of this kind of love. Men can mother. We actually call it parenting, but there is such a gentle capacity to them that in a sense it is mothering. Maybe there are even some men who transcend the gender stereotypes. Maybe these are men who can just love because this type of love lives within them as well. 

       The definition of this kind of love includes an absence of ego, for to love so completely, you have to be able to see yourself as the same as that person. You don’t see yourself as different from that person. In the eyes of this person, the playing field is completely level. It is the very ordinariness of this loving person that makes them loveable, loving and compassionate. They would have to get a stepladder to stand on ceremony.

       The person has to have a global perspective, to love in this way. No matter what country they would find themselves, they would see the sameness, the ordinariness in each person. Isn’t that what Christ did? He was fascinated with all humanity. He loved all of us, no matter what we did and mortals of that time did truly dastardly things to Him and yet, He still loved us. Are ordinary people who love so completely seeking to be like the Christ? Not consciously. They just love. Love lives within them.

       Love is its own power. The capacity to love does not weaken a person it strengthens them. The capacity to love creates an infinite power within a person because love is power. People who think they have power but do not embrace love will find that this power is vicious and cruel. People who think they love, but do not understand the power of this love will find it insipid and weak. However, people who love tap into an infinite power. These people use the combination of love and power to change the world.

       Usually these people are very down to earth, common sense type of people. Mother Theresa was this kind of person. She considered herself ordinary, she was without ego and she wielded tremendous power. She used her power to change the world. She struggled to know God and to do the will of God, which for her perhaps meant to love, all who crossed her path. She did understand the dark side of humanity for she was ever and always practical. She changed and performed service where she could and she accepted what she could not change.

       Most of us will not reach the level of a living saint, but we can love.  Our love can change the immediate world around us in our homes, neighborhoods and work places. 

       There are people who are angry, mean people. These people are a challenge for anyone to love. Even supremely loving people use learning about a negative person as a lesson in love. It may take them a lifetime to learn how to love someone who abused them or who cheated, abandoned or crushed their heart. However, if we are all here to learn these lessons of love, then even the darkest person is a teacher in this earthbound schoolhouse.

       How do you begin to love like this? Start modestly. Learn how to hug, or to shake someone’s hand. Be strong in this action. Put your heart into it. Perhaps that is the key - put your heart into anything you do. Don’t hold back. Love lives in our hearts first and then our minds. Love with all of your heart and you will find that love will come to mind as a natural course and will eventually define your very soul.