Thanks, Mom

Sunday is Mother’s Day. Some scoff that it is just another ‘Hallmark’ holiday, an opportunity for merchants of cards and flowers to make money.  Well, yes there is that, but I am still glad that we are reminded to honor our Moms.  The day is not all joy.  Some women who cannot bear children find the day an intolerable reminder of life’s disappointment.  Some, like me, whose mother has died, will feel the sting of loss renewed. For millions, however, the day is a welcomed opportunity to honor a person who deserves thanks.

Nearly 2 years ago, in the closing months of her life, I came to know my Mom in a new way. Confined by illness, living in our home, we found time to talk about her life, her marriage, her hopes, her disappointments.  For most of my life I knew her only as a parent and as the woman who stood alongside of Dad, sharing his ministry, caring for her family.  Those final months allowed me to know her as a friend.  She confided in me telling me, “your Dad was not an easy man to live with.”  Who knew that the loyal wife was frustrated by the restless visions of my Dad?  She laughed with me about the pictures in her high school yearbook and her friends’ predictions that she would be an airline stewardess. Remember she was a teenager in the early 1950’s when that was a glamorous job. We read the first letter my Dad ever sent to her and she cried as she remembered his boyish profession of love!  Best of all, we prayed and shared her hope of eternal life through Christ Jesus, who was her Lord.

My Mom’s legacy is her children. Her greatest desire for each of us was that we know and love the Lord.  She lived this command - "Love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These commandments that I give you today are to be upon your hearts. Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads." (Deuteronomy 6:5-8, NIV)  She loved him!  My enduring memory is seeing her, in her sick bed, with hands extended to Heaven, deep in prayer. Her Bible shaped her view of life.   And, she passed her love of the Scripture along – reading it to us, taking us to church to learn and worship, and disciplining us to follow it!

So, thank you, Mom. I would love to share a cup of coffee with you!

The Scripture commands us “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you." (Exodus 20:12, NIV)  It’s not a suggestion! It is a directive that comes from our Creator.  The Hebrew word we translate ‘honor’ is the same word that speaks of the ‘glory’ of God.  It  means to have weight or substance, to give respect, to fill up.  The honor we give to our parents is similar to the honor we give to God.  It is not shallow. It is more than a few words. It is assigning a place of worth and esteem.  Not all parents are easy to honor. Some are selfish or terribly sinful. Some are abusive.  In those situations, we honor them with forgiveness as Jesus taught. 

Honor your Mom!  If you’re a Mom, my prayer is that you will have a Happy Mother’s Day!

"Charm can mislead and beauty soon fades.
The woman to be admired and praised is the woman who lives in the Fear-of-God.
Give her everything she deserves!
Festoon her life with praises!"

(Proverbs 31:30-31, The Message)