Last Mother's Day my husband asked if there was anything I wanted to do or get as a gift. I didn't even think about it and responded with a service project. I wanted to love on other moms because I knew how much it would mean to me being a mom. I planned to take my family out to a flower farm outside of Nashville and purchase a couple buckets of flowers. I didn't realize how amazing flower farms are and now all I want to do sometime in my life is to own a flower farm, slight problem I have zero idea about gardens. I purchased the flowers and we even went out to a field near our home and cut some beautiful wildflowers to add. Wildflowers are my favorite, the seeds get tossed around by the wind until they land randomly and sprout up from the dirt, such a sweet metaphor. Side note, I love wildflowers so much I have a large tattoo on my arm of them. There is a large factory that turns into a farmers market on Saturdays close to our home and I asked if I could set up a small table to hand out free flowers to all the moms. When I say all the moms I mean ALL the moms. There are so many moms out there - ones who ache for a child to be growing in their womb, ones who have lost a child, ones who have given up a chid, ones who have adopted/fostered and ones who labored for hours to deliver a child. All moms are incredible, selfless and strong and that is why I wanted to celebrate them all.
Children of all ages even "big" kids came up to my table, I would wrap a few stems in burlap and slip in a note of encouragement. Moms came over sheepishly wondering what was happening. Dads thankful that the moms were being spoiled a little. And as the buckets became sparse and I had to turn people away without flowers the tears came. I turned and hugged my husband thanking him for gifting me this very sweet day. The encouragement I received from everyone was all love, so could you imagine if we treated each other like this on a daily?
This day was all about loving the moms, but could you imagine the ripple effect we could have in the world if we just loved well daily. Did you know it is proven that a good deed or a sweet gesture can have this incredible chain reaction? If you are able to love well when you are going about your day even if it is holding a door for an elderly lady that takes a few minutes longer to walk into a room, someone will see that and in turn feel compelled to love well. Throw a stone into the water and watch how many ripples appear, you my friend could be that stone, YOU could change the direction of someones day.
I know these days can stir up emotions within you. Maybe you didn't have a great relationship with your mom, know you are loved by this mom and you are so worthy. We all have a choice when we wake up and go about our day (more so then ever before with social media) to love well. There are so many ways you can choose to love from simple to a little more complex that could end with me purchasing a flower farm one day. Here are a couple of ideas for you today friends:
- leave a Love Everywhere card behind
https://www.shareloveeverywhere.com/
- Buy a gift card and give it away
- Hold a door with a smile and maybe even a compliment
- Sidewalk calk notes (these are our favorite with our little guy)
- Give to a non profit organization empowering others
https://www.convoyofhope.org/
- Spend quality time with someone
- Send a random thinking about you text or shout out on social media
Go out into the world and love it well one small or big choice at a time!
"Love isn't something we fall into; love is someone we become" - Bob Goff
Thanks for reading! The Mother's Day vlog is below if you'd like to see!
Kayla Tompkins