Mamas Always Know

There is one attribute of motherhood, which we menfolk will never understand. I am talking about that sixth sense many mamas possess, to know just what is going on in their children’s lives, no matter how old they are. Now I am for certain, that God puts something in a new mother that recognizes the faintest whisper in the middle of the night. Mothers have even shared with me how they felt in their heart the exact moment a child had passed away even when the child was far away. As for me, my mother always seemed to know what was going on in my life, even when I was not in her presence.

As a child, I can remember the way my mom could just look at me and know what was going on. Whether I was ill, wanting something, done something I should not have, or just needing to talk, she always knew. Even in my dating years when my heart had been broken, and I tried to be strong so nobody would know, she knew. To this day, I remember one such instance, when I had given no indications of trouble, and was lying alone in the room across my bed; she walked in and asked if I had broken up with a girlfriend. Then she gave me comfort and knew exactly the words I needed to hear.

What really amazed me was that those things she could not sense, she always had a way of finding out. In school, I often wondered if she had her own spy network. However, what took me a little bit to learn is that mamas talk to each other. For example, my senior year a group of us decided we would participate in senior skip day. Many of us went to the lake, and I took a friend with me. Now what I never anticipated was that he would tell his mom, who then told my mom. The Mama Spy network struck again. Anyway, you get the picture, never for one moment think she does not know. Just because she keeps quiet, she may still know, because mamas always know.

Even now, I have learned that if there is something you really do not want to discuss, do not go around Mama, because she will ask what is wrong. Life has proven repeatedly that I probably would have made better decisions had I gone to see her. Only God could have created a mother’s heart. A heart that is protective at all costs, and would fight a bear to save one of her children, but can see through the fog of the moment and find just the right words and a gentle touch calm her child’s every fear.

A mother is the only person, who will tell everyone that her child is perfect, even when presented with evidence to the contrary. Then after defending her child to the world, will take him/her to the woodshed and beat them to within an inch of their life. It is kind of the philosophy that “no one gets to speak ill of my children but me”. A mother is the only person who can take a grown man and make him feel like a child, because of something he has done. Then in the same moment wrap her arms around him and make it all disappear.

Long ago, I learned that my mother always knew what was going on in my life. We all know that a good mother is a gift from God, and my prayer even for those who no longer have their mom is that God could open a window in your heart and show you that your mama still knows.