Every year we set aside one day to honor our mothers. Some get breakfast in bed. We purchase gifts. We take our mothers out to dinner…all to celebrate on one day what our mothers do for our whole lives.

Why not celebrate them everyday?

The Buddha once said:

Love the world as a mother loves her only child.

The Buddha’s mother died only a few days after his birth.

Interesting how the Master isn’t asking us to love the world as we love ourselves. There are many times when we do not love or even like ourselves. We constantly judge ourselves, compare who we are and what we have with those around us. Few mothers do this. You’ve heard the expression “He has a face only a mother could love.” Mothers love their children unconditionally. To our mothers, we are perfect, we are a spark of heaven coated in the warm, soft weave of their own flesh and bones. They judge us against our own innate potential…not those around us.

The Buddha tells us that we all have bodhi nature, that is, the potential to become buddhas–awakened ones–ourselves. The commonality here is no mistake. We must use the example of our mothers and treat the world as they treat their children: with compassion, patience, unconditional love, and endless optimism.

Because every moment is a meditation, I’d like for you to join me today in meditating upon our mothers–their endless love, compassion, and patience–and train your mind and actions to mirror that of a mother. Indeed, if we see and treat the world as a mother does her child, our entire race will realize its highest potential.