Mother's Day has always been one of my favorite holidays of the year because I got to do fun, fancy stuff for my mom - stuff that I never really thought about doing on days that weren't Mother's Day.
I would make muffins or write a big long card with some sort of poem. I would get up super early (at least to my younger self ;) and make breakfast all by myself, or some other crazy, out-of-the-normal thing.
There's even a scar on one of my knuckles from when I was making my mom muffins, when I was nine or ten, and tried to get them out of the oven all by myself. My knuckles bumped against the side of the oven, and I still have that scar to this day.
Every time I see it, it reminds me of everything my mom has done for me. All the food she's cooked and laundry she's folded, places she's driven me to and energy (and sometimes tears) spent on my education - I could go on and on.
And that's what it felt like when I was trying to write her a card or make her something to eat or do something special for her. It never felt like enough. I always didn't have enough space to write how much I loved her, or enough words to express how thankful I was for her.
No matter how many muffins I made or breakfasts I prepared or kitchens I cleaned, I always felt like I wasn't fully expressing how much I loved her because I couldn't stop thinking of all the ways she has constantly, continually loved me and I couldn't put into words how very much I loved her back.
I thought I had to do something big on Mother's Day to show that I loved her. I thought I had to write a long card or come up with some new and special way to say I love you... when really, there's no new way to say I love you.
I Love You
You say I love you by washing the dishes when no one is watching, folding the laundry even when it's not Mother's Day, playing with your siblings, and laughing with them on just ordinary, plain days.
You say I love you by talking with your mom in the car and weeding her amazingly huge garden with her and bringing her water.
You say I love you by just saying... I love you.
There are no new ways to say it, just different ways to show it. There is no one special day that you have to do something completely and entirely extraordinary to prove that you love your mom - it's every day, the little moments, that show with your actions that you love her.
On special holidays like Mother's Day or Father's Day or their birthdays, we feel the sudden need to do something big to say I love you in a big, special, larger-than-life way. But really, it's in the little moments that we have to say I love you.
It's on the mundane, ordinary, boring days that we need to love them. It's in the small, simple things that we can shout I love you the loudest.
When we try to express our love for someone that we really truly care about, all at once, we feel overwhelmed because love isn't something that can be put into words, or put into one action.
It's a lifetime of living and doing and making choices. It's a year of simple, small tasks and loving in the mundane and boring.
It's an ongoing process of making mistakes, choosing forgiveness, loving in simple acts, and doing it all over again.
We can not express our love for someone in one card, or one pan of brownies, or one morning of a clean kitchen - it's day after day, in the hard and the easy, in the lows and the highs, choosing to love in a sacrificial, put-others-first kind of way.
And I am by no means perfect at this. I mess up and make mistakes, say mean things and sometimes do the very opposite of love. We all do.
But we have the ultimate, most perfect Father ever to keep coming back to, and keep modeling our love after. We have the example of a King, Who came and washed His disciples' feet, Who cared about the children and the least of us, and came down from His throne in Heaven to love us.
When He was here on earth, He used the small acts, the simple things, to show His love for people. He performed miracles, but also took time to have the little children come to Him. He fed thousands of people, and cried when His best friend died.
He is the perfect example of using every moment, whether it was big and important, or small and ordinary, to love on the people around Him.
It's Okay To Do Big Things
I still love doing big, fun, fancy things for my mom on Mother's Day. I love hearing about what other people have done for their mom or grandma, how they have served them and loved on them.
Don't not do big things and write long cards and spread mulch for the people you love, just don't forget to do the little things too - to visit them when it's not Mother's Day, to bake them cookies or get them flowers or serve them when it's not a "special" day.
Every day is special. Every day is a day that you can love the people around you in small, simple acts that truly show how much you love them.
Every day is a day that you can wash someone's feet and point them to a Savior Who never waited for a fancy occasion or special day to do something that would love and serve His children.
So go and make muffins or clean the whole house or get a big present - but also, fold the laundry, wash the dishes, and laugh with your siblings on days that aren't Mother's Day.
In the little things and the small things, love just as hugely as you do in the big things.
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