What makes ME a Mother?

Yesterday being Mother's Day, I couldn't help but wonder if I was a good mother?!?!
What makes a good mother? What is that one thing, that changes a woman into a mother?
What makes ME a mother???
I kept pondering those questions in my head over and over all day long....
Is it the stretch marks on my belly that gives the evidence that once a baby snuggled inside of me? Is it the constant worry over your child's health and development? The longing to ensure the complete safety, happiness and most important of all, spiritual development of that little one I love so much?? Is that it, the worry???
Or is it the LOVE, the complete adoration for this little creature of God? A love so strong and pure that I've never knew could exist before her??
I still don't know... the answer is like a blurry image... i can see the colours and shapes of it, but not the image as a whole....

I never knew i wanted to become a mother until i became a mother!
After that moment of giving birth, I knew that being a mother was one of the most wonderful, if not the greatest gift, God could have blessed me with!

One thing i know, is that having a child forever changed me!
I know I am more patient, more tolerant, more reasonable, more grateful, more happy, more proud. I have more empathy and more love inside of me! Does being a mother makes you change for the better? What changed me???

I can still remember that early morning in March last year... this tiny warm little baby snuggled on my chest, her little pinkish hand wrapped around my finger, and when her big eyes met mines, i felt like a wave overcame me! A feeling beyond description! I knew immediately that I would do anything for this little helpless creature and that she would have my unconditional love forever more!
Perhaps this is what makes me a mother....
The knowing from the first look that love is the uniting bond between us in this world and all the other worlds to come... A love that requires nothing in return! A most pure, deep and profound form of love! The kind that makes us weak and strong at the same time, the kind that brings you joy and causes you anguish.... the kind of love that you simply cannot explain in words....

My responsibility as mother is even greater than before.
I have the important role and duty to educate my child, inculcate her with values that must become the foundations on which she builds her future life...
Her happiness and well-being depends on me!!!

'Abdu'l-Bahá says: "Therefore is it incumbent upon the mothers to rear their little ones even as a gardener tendeth his young plants. Let them strive by day and by night to establish within their children faith and certitude, the fear of God, the love of the Beloved of the worlds, and all good qualities and traits."

The responsibilities are huge!! And i am only at the beginning of it all... there are so many years to go and challenges to face, and joy and love to share...

I pray that God will help and guide me along this path of what is motherhood and make me become a mother to His eyes... After all that's all that will ever matter!