Mother Nature spends most her days meek and mild, but best watch out should she ever get riled.

The ways of God are not for us to understand.         

I believe that is truth as I believe Motherhood is not genetics, not some mystical union only possible by shared DNA. Rather Motherhood is a mammoth undertaking of the will. To mother is a choice. Choosing to nurture and do the tough stuff. To step outside self and laser love upon another, a love utterly removed from the need for approval or convenience.

Away from Madison the evening the storm hit, I was shocked to return and review the damage. It’s one thing to exchange texts and calls with loved ones and friends making sure they were okay but entirely another to touch a tree resting on a friend’s house – while you and the tree occupy space inside her bathroom.

Those who talked about that night spoke of incredible sounds and ferocious winds and of stealing peeks from their basements to spy 40 foot trees swaying back and forth so violently they appeared malleable as fluttering paper bulletins amongst a 1940s congregation in a mid-July church service.

There are times in life when you wake up to think — did that just happen? Where is the security and stability that existed before hundreds of pine trees looked as matchsticks snapped by a bored teenager trapped at a family barbeque? 

As women entrusted with children, we need to consider what’s going to happen the day our door swings open to a swirling monster of F5 proportions. Will slamming the door, throwing the lock and sighing, “Oh well, I tried my best” be enough? What kind of foundation are we constructing for our charges? Lasting bullworks take time and patience. Requiring work that doesn’t receive a lot of accolades and gratitude on the front end.

Time spent to read, time to listen, time to sit and talk at dinner. Time to teach them to pray. Time to say “no,” we don’t allow that behavior or talk in our household. Time to show them the importance of mercy toward all living creatures, our fellow humans topping the list.

Suiting-up for Motherhood done right is ultimately a choice, but a choice once made that calls for responsibility. Some mothers toil away with a spouse they love; others in marriages where a Band-Aid attempts to halt massive hemorrhaging, then there are women who find themselves mothering alone — trying to be all things to all people. None of that changes the task at hand. Don’t give up because it’s hard, boring at times, incredibly frustrating or downright infuriating.

Everyone’s style of construction is different. There is room for lots of creativity. We need to be dedicated but different, raising children with unique ideas and skills to keep this planet ahead of her troubles. Though some of us might have blown a bit off course, it’s never too late to find that shovel and dig in deep with love. It’s hard to be strong day in day out. Sometimes we need a supernatural power surge — for this isn’t the time to grow weary in doing good.

It’s not if challenges will come, but when. If last week showed us only one thing, it might be… “Look Toto, life’s storms don’t stay in Kansas anymore.”