One calm, bright, sweet, sunshiny day, an angel slipped out of heaven and came down to this old world and roamed field and forest, city and hamlet. Just as the sun was setting, he spread his wings and said,"Now my visit is over and I must go back to the world of light. But before I go, I would like to take along some mementos of my visit here."

He noticed a beautiful flower garden and said,"How lovely and fragrant these flowers are." He plucked the rarest and most beautiful roses and made a bouquet and said, "I see nothing more beautiful and fragrant than these; I will take them back to heaven with me."

Looking on a little further, he saw a bright-eyed, rosy-cheeked baby, smiling into its mother's face. And he said, "Oh, that baby's smile is even prettier than this bouquet of roses; I will take that, too!"

Then he looked just beyond the cradle and there was a mother's love pouring out like the gush of a river toward the cradle and the baby. And he said to himself, "Oh, that mother's love is the prettiest thing I have seen on earth; I will carry that, too."

With the three treasures he winged his way back to heaven. When he got outside the pearly gates, he decided to examine his mementos to see how well they had made the trip. He looked at the flowers and they had wilted. He looked at the baby's smile and it had faded. He looked at the mother's love and it was still there in all its warmth and in all its pristine beauty.

He threw aside the wilted flowers and the faded smile, and winged his way through the gates. He led all the hosts of heaven together and said, "Here is the only thing I found on earth that would keep its beauty all the way to heaven ... It is a Mother's Love."