Do You Love Me as Much as My Mommy Does?

This is the question my sweet granddaughter Brielle asked me one evening when I was putting her to bed when we were tending her last summer. She was crying, missing her mommy. There were only two times when she got sad during the week we had her, and this was one of them. Ahh. How would you answer that question?

I did what most moms and grandmas do in those situations, I prayed mightily that I would say just the right thing, and said, “No one loves you as much as your mommy does. Except Heavenly Father. And He loves you way more than your mommy. But no one loves you as much as your mom and dad. But Grandmas and Grandpas are the very next. We love you second most.” I then ran and got the phone and we called Mommy. “Brielle is feeling a little bit sad.” Within minutes, Mommy had said just the right things and Brielle was across the room playing happily, comforted in her Mommy’s love.

2010 is a red-letter year for me. As of this year, all of my daughters are mothers themselves, and now they all understand just how much I love them. Before you are a mommy yourself, you just don’t get it. I love to talk to my daughters and read their blogs and feel and see that mother love coming from them. It gives me a tiny glimpse of what Heavenly Father must feel as he lets us be parents.