WOMEN: LEADERSHIP and Our MOTHERING GIFTS

TRIBUTE TO THE MOTHER IN US ALL
"Furnish an example, stop preaching, stop shielding, don't prevent self-reliance and initiative, allow your children to develop along their own lines."
Eleanor Roosevelt 

About the painting: The painting is one of seven leaders I have across the wall above my desk. She looks over me as I work. Her leadership and motherhood of a nation and the world a shining example for us all. Painting by San Francisco artist, mother and grandmother, Sally K. Green.

I am a mother and grateful for gift of knowing its multi-faceted experiences in a lifetime. I have a beautiful daughter and granddaughter. I am so proud of them. It is so rewarding and meaningful to see each of them allowing their mothering gifts to shine in many ways as young women. I've learned over time that motherhood is not just about having children. Motherhood's essence lies within the nature of all women. We are never robbed of its opportunity and responsibility, only by the limitations of our thinking. A woman's life is full of chances to use her mothering gifts. I believe the world would be better for it if we all were mindful of the unique calling each of us has to be a mother in our lives in our own right. Our calling might be with a child of our own or someone else's child or a child in the distance. Our calling may show up in different ways ---- nurturing animals; leading, guiding and mentoring people looking to us for leadership in our work or community, using our caring touch and passion to be stewards of the environment or the care for our planet. Mothering's great purpose may surface in seemingly unrelated endeavors, like shepherding a project in our work or in our community. What we don't always see, or maybe need to see, is the significance of our important deeds and work and their sometimes sweeping influence on a life, on a neighborhood, on a country, on our world.

Motherhood for some is a courageous calling. As I write this, I think of the women in Africa, raising 12 and 13 children, some in these new mothers in teens and twenties themselves or older women called to rise up a again for the sake of many, because they hear their call in the tragedy of aids. Motherhood is sometimes in our inventive minds, nurturing and preserving for the good of others, as it was for Nwakego, a young mother bringing the Igbo tradition of music to the children of the world. Motherhood is most often in the heart of the giver. "It is not what we do. It is the love we put into the doing." --- Mother Teresa.

Nurturing, loving and caring --- mothering at its best --- is needed everywhere in this life, especially at this time in human history with wars, destruction and tragedy in so many directions --- and for each of us, our unique motherhood purpose may be very different than someone else. For some of us, it may not be having a baby at all. I've known many women who have contributed their mothering gifts in ways we couldn't or wouldn't have wanted to miss, some famous and some quietly who remain nameless to the world.

I heard Her Majesty Queen Noor of Jordon tell a story about the Prophet Mohammad (upon him peace), which speaks to the significance of our important role as women. She told that when asked who the most important person was, The Prophet said, "Your Mother." When asked who was the second most important person, he said, "Your Mother." When asked who was the third most important person, he said, "Your Mother." When asked who was the fourth most important person, he said, "Your Father."

What is your unique calling to use your MOTHERING GIFTS?
How will you share them with the world around you?

Debbe

Debbe Kennedy
Founder, Global Dialogue Center
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