Mothers are like....Garlic.

I have a gift.
It is a curse or a blessing, which ever way you choose to look at it.

It is that I constantly see household items and can't help but relate them to motherhood.

I have fun letting my thoughts run wild as I spend time each day pondering different items and coming up with ideas on how I can use them to help me become a better mother and wife. 

Recently my thoughts turned to Garlic.

Garlic is a strong-smelling pungent-tasting bulb, used as a flavoring in cooking and in herbal medicine.
The cloves are used for consumption (raw or cooked), and have a characteristic pungent, spicy flavour that mellows and sweetens considerably with cooking.

The papery, protective layers of "skin" over various parts of the plant are generally discarded during preparation for most culinary uses. Unless you are Jamie Oliver and can't be stuffed!

Now, how does this relate to motherhood:

Being a mother is a great work. It takes spunk, intuition and great judgement. We work on trusting our instincts, we try new ideas and test experiences that will best suit our family as we go.

Just like cooking.

A clove of garlic is small and may seem insignificant in a recipe but once you have tasted it's flavour you can tell when it is missing from a meal. As mothers we may feel small and insignificant but we are powerful and have great influence over our families and children. When we are gone {or feel missing in action} the whole house can fall apart and we are sorely missed in our efforts and guidance.

Sometimes as mothers we get fired up, we become 'raw' and lose our temper or our vision and at these times we are spicy! We are pungent and the fumes exposed are intense, deep and fierce.

Our attitude can affect the whole family, sometimes bringing it down. We influence the spirit of our home and when we are strong in the wrong way we become overpowering instead of empowering.

When we use just enough 'flavour' to run our homes and influence our family we can mellow and sweeten the tone of our home. This happens when we understand our role, know who we are, rise to the challenge of what we need to do and out of small things help to make great things happen.

We become the icing on the cake, the cherry on top and just the right ingredient our family needs to function on a healthy level.

We can be the medicine our home needs. By giving of ourselves and our unique gifts we can be the balm to heal wounded souls, the soft voice that calms nerves, the remedy for all injuries and the kind hearted support a loved one needs.

Just like garlic needs time to release its flavour - so do we. As we grow and progress into the role of mother we become more comfortable, confident and consistent with our mothering. We learn to let go of those protective layers and reach a stage where we can share, expose and open our hearts to be the best mother for our children.

Like one clove of garlic has a powerful affect in a dish of food so can we as individual mothers make an impact, change, modify and transform our families.

Like a cluster of garlic when a group of mothers is united in their commitment to be wonderful, inspiring and dedicated in nurturing their children and take the time to support each other in that role, we can be even more powerful and influencial with our sweetness and flavour.

Knowing that we are not on this journey alone brings peace and courage. I so love our little group of 'Mother Hearts' who link up each week. I love the friendship we share and the support we give each other. I look forward to seeing how you are going in your homes, how your hearts are feeling and the words of wisdom you have to share.

In my garlic research I also discovered that there are different types or subspecies of garlic, most notably: hardneck garlic and softneck garlic. 

I will leave it to you decide which one you feel you currently are! 

Personally, I have been feeling a little stiff~necked myself and in desperate need of a massage to soften those muscles :) This will be the last Mother Heart link up for the year and I will start them again in the new year. I think we all deserve a break to play, enjoy and cherish ourselves and our cherubs over the Christmas holidays. By the way I am trying it as a 'thumbnail' version so you can add a picture to your blog link to see how it goes.





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So here are the guidelines for Mother Heart:
1. Link up your post about motherhood
2. Grab the Mother Heart button and post it on your blog
3. Grab the code if you want to join in the blog hop
4. Leave some comments on other awesome mummy bloggers posts
5. Have a laugh and a cry and enjoy being a mother!