Hello all mothers, whether you are called momma, mother, grandma, grandmother, nana, mamou, daughter, sister, aunt, stepmom, etc., you all deserve to be pampered every day, but especially the day that has been set aside for your celebration.

To be called a mother, one must have biologically born a child, adopted a child, inherited a child through a marriage of others, or simply fit the description of “mom” in the eyes of the child. When I think of mothers, there is so much I can say to give them credit for which they so rightfully deserve, but one thing I can say is that they have their hands full. Not only full in raising children, but also taking care of the other parts of life that has to be juggled. I have always wondered why mothers have so much on their plate and then one day here recently, it hit me hard. I had to go back into the Bible where it talked about woman after she ate the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil.

I re-read where God gave punishments to all, man, the serpent and even woman. I always thought that the woman’s punishment was very harsh because she allowed the serpent to beguile her and make her forget that the tree was forbidden.

Well, that was what I’ve always thought until the understanding of the punishment was revealed to me and became clear. Then I knew that the punishment wasn’t as bad as I thought. The verse reads in the King James Version Genesis 3:16, “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee.”

In the first part of the verse, God said he would multiply woman’s sorrow (grief, mourning, sadness, regret, unhappiness, trouble, distress). Now, I know why we cry so much or take things at heart when we are unhappy or troubled. Then he said he would multiply her conception (idea, thought, impression, perception, hypothesis, understanding, comprehension, suspicion). Reviewing these words alone just blew my mind. Now I know why we feel that we have a sixth sense or eyes in the back of our heads. Now I know why we have an open mind to just about everything and also why we may doubt other things. So the next time your child asks, “Momma, how did you know that without looking,” you say, “God gave me this feature.”

And not only did he give us these great characteristics, but he increased them. Wow! And then he said in sorrow, she should bring forth children, wait on her husband hand and foot, and lastly be ruled by him. OK, OK, so women, labor pain and being subjected to our husbands are part of our punishment too.

We can’t have our cake and eat it too. We must be thankful that we are women and that we were put here to enjoy a beautiful life in the Lord. From this, we can say God is a good god, he had our best interest at heart from day one and that the fruit was not all bad. From the pain and anguish of bringing forth beautiful children, we get a chance to nurture a life from the beginning to the end of their lives or ours. So, this Mother’s Day, look at your life in a different way and be thankful that you play an important part in this world in birthing and rearing the children in our lives. Happy Mother’s Day to all and to all a good day.

Beverly Gibson is a Ferriday Resident.