It’s Friday before Mother’s Day and
I’m reflecting on mothers and the awe I still feel at being one!
I THINK BACK AND WALK WITH PRAISE THROUGH THE YEARS IN MY MIND.
Busy
baby time, four children in nine years. Then being amazed at their emerging
personalities - David with his army men and board games battles covering the floor of his bedroom along with his history books.
Dan playing his favorite games like
the Little Green Things between soccer and B-ball and golf.
Pam her
face red and dripping wet from her super basketball playing or creating the best
ever croissant recipe.
Tam with her tennis and novels and testing Pam's croissants and running with me.
Remembering all these “mom moments”
is so rich. What might yours be?
I see in my mind the six of us at
the kitchen table during dinner in Delavan and I hear the laughter pealing
forth. Dear God, it was SO GOOD.
We were all wrapped up with the
love of God and one another.
I know the day the laughter paused,
but only for a time when our son David’s enemy cancer was identified. We
determined as a family to fight with love and faith and prayer and laughter.
And by God’s grace the cancer succumbed.
I look at a stone from our family Smoky Mountain trip and remember yearly trips to Florida and Disney World – splurges despite a tight budget – times that brought us forever memories steeped in joy.
And then on top of this to get to be a grandmom and enjoy ongoing
grand mom’s moments!
I grin deep inside remembering the joke our
grandson DJ told me last Saturday.
I see Jack running down the Upper
Gardens Road on a scavenger hunt beating us all and his face lighting up when Grandpa
said, “You’re really fast!” And ten-year-old Anna and Joshua enrapt as we build
a bonfire for them and tell them stories about their mommy and daddy.
I see Drew playing the piano at the
senior home and directing the five older grandchildren sitting on our sun porch
making cards to welcome their new twin cousins, Anna and Joshua. I see Katie in the
kitchen making fudge with me. And Steven helping me make a rock border in the
back yard. And now I even have a grandson-in-law Alex - all six foot plus of him with a huge heart as well.
And then I think of other moms:
Like moms I meet through my
volunteer work - unwed moms who courageously gave their babies to other
women’s arms yearning to have the sacred joy of nurturing a child. To them I
say don’t mourn – your little ones will praise you face to face in heaven.
I think of single moms who struggle
financially and emotionally but say it’s worth it all to mother my child(ren) and make a life for them.
I think of divorced families for
whom Mother’s Day can be complicated and I hurt for these moms and I pray.
And I think of abandoned elderly
moms who sit alone in nursing homes. May none be totally forgotten this year.
For these moms may we all pray.
I smile at the thought of all the love that’s going to be expressed
on Sunday– the cards and flowers that will change hands. The moms taken for
granted far too often will hear the love song that’s always within their
children’s hearts.
I’m mindful of all the Moms like me
who didn’t do our Mom-ing perfectly, but we did it wholeheartedly and we had a
ton of fun along the way. And we have children who know we tried and rise up
and call us blessed.
We moms know, don’t we, that
ordinary family days are so precious – so fragile and the most meaningful days
of all.
So happy mom’s day to me, to
you and to the Dads who facilitated our roles. Children we celebrate you, too, for the great blessing of watching you grow in delightful ways.
“I am the Lord’s servant,” Mary
answered. “May your word to me be fulfilled.” Luke 1: 38 Then the angel left her.
How amazing the news of a pregnancy
always is!
“But Mary treasured up all these
things and pondered them in her heart.” Luke 2: 18-20
Don’t we all?
“I am reminded of your sincere
faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother
Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.”
2 Timothy 1:4-6
May our children walk with faith in God always.
