109) Learn Lessons - Loving children without counting the cost.

"Who is it that loves me and will love me forever with an affection which no chance, no misery, no crime of mine can do away? It is you, my mother. Thomas Carlyle.

Some years ago, on a hot summer day, a little boy went out to swim in the old swimming hole, behind his house. He jumped into the water and swam towards the middle of the lake. Just then an alligator swam towards the boy. The boy's mother, by now, had reached the lake and watched with dread the approaching alligator. She yelled to her son to get to the shore fast. As the boy reached the shore the mother grabbed him, even as the alligator snapped at his feet. A fierce tussle ensued between the mother and the alligator, each trying to pull the boy. Hearing her screams, a farmer who passed by shot the alligator, just in time. After weeks in the hospital, the boy recovered, but the ugly scars on his legs, from the ferocious teeth of the alligator, told the tale of a lucky escape. The scars on his arms were less ugly, but deep - where his mother's nails dug deep into his flesh to hold on to him. He prided in those scars as he gloated over his mother's superior strength, born of strong love.

Without warning, we are called upon to demonstrate heroic love for our children; perform super human acts of love. Are we mentally ready? When the time comes, will we be found wanting? Such acts may not always call for physical strength. They may test our moral correctness, when we have to protect our children from the preying claws of evil. When their baser instincts militate against the programming given to them at home, we will have to there for them gently guiding them to safety. That is when love is stronger than other forces!