Ms Lauryn Hill Teaches Moms A Big Lesson At The BET Awards

Watching award shows is one of my favorite ways to kick back and watch stars do their thing. From the red carpet to the performances and the host's opening act, I am all in. Naturally, I was excited when BET advertised their award show on Sunday, June 30, 2024. I've watched awards shows so much that I don't even need to know what time it starts. My assumption is always that the red carpet is at 7, and the event starts at 8. 

I sat and watched all 4 hours of the BET Awards and was most excited for the last performance. Ms Lauryn Hill has been my favorite singer for as long as I can remember. I always wondered what she was doing while on hiatus. What did everyday life look like for her? Was she done wrong by the industry and extremely hurt, or did she just come to the realization that music wasn't her love anymore? Seeing her bring out her son last night while her other kids watched in the audience, I realized only after becoming a mother myself that she had found a higher calling for a season: her children. 

Seeing her on stage with her son, sounding amazing, with new arrangements to the classic sounds, was a declaration that mothers can do it all—maybe just not all at the same time. She took a break from music and raised seven children. Raising one child is a flex, but seven is out of this world. When that season of her life was over and they were old enough to pursue the things they desired, she went back to what she loved. 

That spoke to me. As a mother, I often think whatever dreams I had are permanently shelved now that I have a child with the possibility of having more children in the future. Ms Lauryn Hill showed on that stage last night that you can always pick those dreams back up. Children only stay small for such a short period of time. Their childhood goes by in a flash, Im still very much at the beginning of my motherhood journey and am in awe daily about how time flies. And when its over its over. 

That's why it's important not to completely forget about your interests and desires because the time will come when your children grow and don't need you the way they once did. How special last night and every night Miss Lauryn Hill gets to bring her son on stage with her must be. How she looks at all the years she sacrificed, focusing her attention on them, and seeing them follow in her footsteps and be great must make her heart want to explode. 

I think that is why the Bible says children are a reward. We instill love, time, care, patience, and everything else in our children. The sacrifices we bear for them do not go without reaping. Children who respect their parents are a prize. It's something special to experience that when they grow old, they choose you like you choose them. The reward is getting to experience all the great things life has to offer and being able to pray for them and see the Lord move in their life from an outside perspective. 

May we all look to last night's full circle moment and see so much beauty, sacrifice, love, and more. I pray we all see that giving something up to raise our children is honorable and worthwhile and that it encourages us all to be committed to training our children in the way that they should go.

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