One of the things I remember about my mom while I was growing up, was that Christmas and Easter were times to bake cookies for friends and neighbours. I specifically remember a giant Tupperware bowl containing a double batch of my mom’s classic oatmeal chocolate chip cookie dough! The sweet smell of cinnamon, oats, and chocolate filled our kitchen. On this occasion she was using pastel coloured M & M’s for Easter. With every perfectly shaped ball of dough, it’s as if she was baking God’s love into one cookie at a time.

And how could I forget the amazing care packages she sent from California to me while I was at university in Washington state? Mom sent a big container of cookies with red and green M & M’s, enough that I could share with the twenty plus girls in my dormitory hall! The amazing amount of detail and care put into her parcels showed her love and kindness all over them!

Besides still having a major sweet tooth, I absolutely love being a mother myself, carrying on the baking tradition with Anna and Luke. It’s a hands-on project I can teach them and a way to spend quality time with my children. A few weeks ago, we decided to bake some cookies over the half term break and deliver them to the kids’ friends. Still in a lockdown restriction from freely seeing others, dropping off cookies made a wonderful excuse to get out to say, “Hello!” to our friends in what has been a long, challenging season for everybody. In my heart, I smiled while quickly trying to capture the sweet moment of Anna and Luke lovingly making patterns of smarties on their friends’ cookies. They’ve inherited the delight in giving to others.

Looking back there are so many things my mom did for me and taught me throughout childhood, but my favourite has been learning to share God’s love through simplistic everyday acts which can mean so much to the people around us! Baking is one idea however, there are so many various ideas to blessing others. Delivering flowers, sending a card, writing a text, painting a picture, dropping off a meal (special thanks goes to my sweet friend, Michelle who surprised me the other week with a lovely dinner!), paying forward a coffee for the person behind you, making a video singing a song, buying a small present just because, or writing a poem are all ideas of letting people know that we care for them.

To my own mother, thank you for all of the love you put into caring for me and others. I’ll never be able to recall how many meals you have made or the crazy amount of cookies you have baked over the years, but I certainly know that everything you’ve ever done was fully covered in love!

To all of my mummy and mommy friends, don’t underestimate the many little things you do for your children each day. Your love is making a strong impression on their growing hearts, and they will carry it around for always, spreading it to others as they flourish. Happy British Mother’s Day to you all!

“My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.”

John 15:12