wfn.org | Editorial: As bow is to arrow, so is mother to child

["Taiwan Church News" <enews@pctpress.org>]

>      Taiwan Church News

>3036 Edition

>May 3~9, 2010

Editorial: As bow is to arrow, so is mother to child

>Translated by Lydia Ma

Carnations in May remind us to express gratitude to all mothers on  earth. 
Every woman takes

on countless responsibilities and makes innumerable sacrifices  from the moment 
she delivers

her baby after ten months of pregnancy. A lot of tears and sweat  are included 
in the process of

raising a child and motherhood is a lifetime responsibility.

Perhaps modern women no longer see serving their husbands and  children as the 
center of

their lives. Many women nowadays have gone on to pursue  self-realization and 
prestigious

careers on top of starting a family. But if we go back to the  basics, we will 
find a woman who

>simply loves her children.

That is the reason every mother receives the gift of motherhood  from God with 
trembling

hands and a humbled heart. Motherhood is filled with pain and  comfort as 
mothers watch their

children grow. Both mother and child must adjust to each other and  learn from 
each other

>continually.

The renowned poet Khalil Gibran once said parents are like bows  and children 
are like

arrows. A bow doesn’t force an arrow to fly to its desired  destination; 
rather, it supports and

enables an arrow to fly higher. In the same way, parents must try  to provide a 
good

environment for their children to grow into adulthood instead of  forcing them 
down a certain

>path.

It is unfortunate that so many examples of broken families have  dominated the 
news lately. By

now, we’ve all heard of a little girl surnamed Chao who was  burned to death 
along with her

mother when her mother committed suicide. This incident stunned  Taiwanese 
society and

became an example of motherly love gone wrong.

This incident should serve as a wake-up call that there are broken  families in 
need of our help

and comfort to restore shattered pieces of their lives. This  tragedy reminds 
us that a mother’s

love can be powerful in shaping a child into a great person, but  it can also 
be very frail and

>wrongheaded.

During the early stages of a child’s development, mothers  exert stronger 
influence on their

children than fathers. But it is precisely because mothers play  such crucial 
roles in the

development of a child that we must ask for God’s wisdom in  fulfilling this 
role. We need

wisdom to know how we can support our children as we become that  stretched bow 
on which

>arrows rely on to soar into the sky.

As many mothers will testify, motherhood has made them both  extremely strong 
and extremely

vulnerable. It has made them strong in the sense that they are  willing to do 
anything for their

children. But it has also rendered them vulnerable as they realize  they cannot 
be by their

children’s side forever to shield and protect them.

No matter how much a mother may wish to shield her children from  life’s storms 
or how much

she dotes on them, she cannot fight life’s battles for them.  Faced with this 
fact of life, mothers

must humble themselves and let go. They must lay down their  worries and 
entrust their children

to God, knowing that God always has the best plan for their  children.

The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world.  As we 
celebrate Mothers Day,

we pray God will grant wisdom to every mother so that they can  take good care 
of their

inheritance and fulfill their calling given them by God.

As Elizabeth said to Mary long ago, we also say, “Blessed are  you among women 
and

blessed is the child you will bear.” We wish all mothers  happiness not just on 
Mothers Day but

>every day.

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