The motherland: a journey of the heart

Yesterday, in a synchronistic overview which the Universe sometimes provides, I saw all sides of the miracle of motherhood writ large in the women in my life...

In the course of my day I was honoured to spend quality time with:

A woman who is about to give birth to her third child
A woman recently pregnant with her first, seeking out knowledge about birth
A woman with a little baby
A woman who had just had a wanted abortion
A woman who is desperately wanting to conceive but is struggling
A woman with a dearly wanted adopted child
A woman whose youngest child is about to leave home
Women with children in the prime of childhood

So many different women,  who from different departure points in their lives, have undertaken this journey of the heart into the unknown motherland. Each of them at different places of the journey of motherhood. The wide-eyed innocence of the first time mother. The hard won wisdom of the mother whose children are making their way in the world. The blooming unseen potential of the burgeoning pregnant mama's belly. The aching heart of the woman who wants with every cell of her being, to be a mother whose body is not cooperating with her dream. And the one who knows that now is just not the right time.

With courage and surrender these women face the unknowable each day, as the miracle of life unfolds within their bodies and hearts. As they deal with the difficult decisions which call to be taken. They learn to follow their intuition, the quiet voice within, to find responses to questions that have no answer but their own. They strive for health, for wellbeing, for balance, for love in a world that does not acknowledge the value of these things. They give of themselves endlessly, constantly, for the soul reward of being a part of the dance of life whose gift is life itself and love, deeper than we could ever have imagined.

And there, somewhere in the centre of it all, subsumed under other people's bodies, and cries, and multiplying cells, and hormonal cycles sits a woman: a woman who through the sacred journey of motherhood, loses and finds herself, her body, her sanity on a daily basis. And in the midst of it all, gives birth to something so precious: a deeper sense of self.

Blessings to you all dear women, dear mothers in your journey, wherever on the path you may be.