Mother Nature is happy; Mother Nature is unhappy. The wiles of weather are given human characteristics to explain the mercurial changes in wind, rain, calm, and storm.

Her spring breezes can be as soothing as any human mother's hand laid upon a feverish brow. Rays of sunshine meld with rain showers to urge new growth and sustain what has already taken root. She nourishes the Earth with those same elements. She clothes the planet in the colors of the season, each one remarkable in its unique beauty. Mother Nature watches over us, as tenderly as a new mother guards the cradle.

She is also quick to reprimand the world. Those breezes can turn swiftly to fierce winds, toppling buildings and stirring the seas into turbulent waves. The comforting hands can crack open the earth with quakes that swallow cities. Mother Nature can tease volcanoes into fiery eruptions, and angrily cast down bolts of lightning, piercing clouds to send down punishing torrents of rain - all to remind us who is in charge.

Her temperament is predictably unpredictable.

Mother Nature, in other words, is not so very unlike the human mothers to whom we will pay homage this Sunday.

The nature of mothers is a combination of unconditional love and strict supervision. Mothers are the ones who first give nourishment, who offer guidance and opportunities. Mothers introduce us to the world with a gentle and playful manner.

When we are ill, Mother is the one to worry, to nurture us back to health. She recognizes strengths and weaknesses, giving us tools to grow and shores us up when we falter. She teaches us the ways of the world and ways to navigate what we do not comprehend in the world.

She is not opposed to tough love. When we go too far astray, a fierce mother is there to yank us back in line. Her disappointment in bad behavior is enough to reel in the wandering progeny. An occasional eruption of anger shakes our worlds as thoroughly as any of Mother Nature's earthquakes.

A mother's sharp words are a verbal slap in the face - and remind us who is in charge.

We know what makes her smile, we know how to push her buttons, and we know how anxiously she carries the burden of love that makes her say things and act in ways we cannot understand - until life makes us parents, ourselves.

Mother Nature does her best to keep the world in alignment with the universe, and every mother strives to keep her children aligned with what is right in the world. It is a predictably unpredictable balancing act.

Mother's Day is upon us. Celebrate the mother in your life, or her memory, with the same jubilation used to celebrate Mother Nature on the recent Earth Day. Honor your mother in the way that honors her love for you.