The grace of mom

What is Grace from God? Perhaps an interesting way to start off in this post considering the title, but again I ask it; what is grace from God? Grace from God, as I understand it, is the receiving of something that as humans we do not deserve and can never earn. Is there anything on this earth that more closely resembles this than the relationship most commonly experienced between parents and children? In all other relationships we have in life, there is no other relationship more instantly filled with love that that experienced between parents and children. For those of you who are married and reading this, if you think of the love you have for your spouse, you may not have loved them right away. Certainly, you were most likely not ready to lay down your life if it called for it the first time you saw them. Yet these two things seem to be present in all parent to child relationships. The first time a mother holds her newborn baby, there is a love that is instantly felt for the child, even though the child is in a state of development in which they can not return the affection. Similarly, I would believe that most mothers would tell you that they would gladly lay down their lives for the life of their child, even though, again, the child does not have the ability to do the same for the parent. What, therefore, did the child do to earn this love? Did they have witty conversation with the parent over a romantic dinner as the spouse of the mother did...of course not. They simply came into existence, hopefully out of the love shown between the child's parents love for each other. Their existence alone warrants the grace and love of the parents. If you think about it, it may also be the one prerequisite for our love and grace from God, to exist. How do you say a thank you that is worthy of the grace and love of your mom on this day? You can't...at least in a way that is worthy of earning the love. You can only show tokens of your love to your mom directly, and perhaps give the other best gift you could give; the love and grace to your own children that you and your spouse may be blessed to have. This is dedicated to my mom...I love you!