Mothers

  Mother,” the female parent of a household. In the Hebrew family, the mother occupied a higher position than that enjoyed by women of other nations.”That’s from Nelson’s Bible Dictionary. I believe I can do better than that. There are references to motherhood throughout the Bible but as often the case this subject is difficult to put into words. As I look back across my life there is nothing that touched my being like my mother. Only Jesus has touched me more. As I look back across the years now I find myself asking, was there ever a time she wasn’t there when I was growing up. It seems to me that she was an ever present loving, caring, person that gave herself always second place in the family. Make no mistake we were poor by the worlds standards but Mom always made a way to make her family feel special. I could use up all the space in this e-mail detailing those memories and her commitment to her family. She never worked outside the home, never took a vacation, and was always there to provide something special. In those days room mothers were encouraged and many a year she would volunteer to provide special things for special days. She never obtained a drivers license as she didn’t  see any reason to have one. In fact I don’t remember Mom shopping for anything but groceries, what little else we could afford could be ordered from a catalog. That usually only occurred one time a year before school started. I never left home in the morning without a warm breakfast, I never returned from school that she was not there. I can not, nor would I even be able to, tell of all the ways my mother demonstrated her love.
    I often find myself wondering what is that spark that makes a women a mother. God created in women a special set of skills that only she could administer. I have met many wonderful people in my life; I have been blessed by them but no one has loved me like my mother did. The last ten years of my mothers life was difficult as during that time she struggled with three different cancer’s. In 2003 ovarian cancer finally ended her life. I was away on vacation when I received the word that she was dying. I drove straight through the night to get home but not in time. My brother recalls her final moments when she set up in the bed and reached out for something beyond the physical death that came. Mom was going home.
   I suppose there are many who will read this e-mail and say yes that was my mom, for you see I believe God has placed in the hearts of the female a special capacity that we men have not, nor will we ever have, the capacity for love that most mothers have. There is a purpose for everything under heaven, and I thank God that he purposed for me to be born and raised by such a fine women. What inspires a person to achieve beyond themselves, to be able to form other’s lives, to put themselves second to everything else without complaining or boasting. There is only one word for that and that is MOTHER. I thank God for mine; I believe she was the one thing  in life that taught me what love really is. When I met Jesus, and He entered my life, I was now able to see where mom’s love came from. As a child I acted as a child and it was mom who kept my life together, but when I became a man, and was responsible for my life, I believe I was better able to see God’s love for me because of my mother. I ask you isn’t that what God created mother’s for?
   Abe Lincoln’s remarks concerning his mother has always inspired me. He said, “all that I am I owe to my mother.” Not every child born will say that of their mother. Sorry to say some probably don’t deserve it but God intended for you and me to be nurtured and loved by our mothers until such time we are mature enough to accept our place in His world and assume the role he has created us for. Thank you Lord for your wisdom, thank you for mothers, and thank you for your Grace that makes it all possible. As often when I write of the things of God I feel that I have not really done justice to that which I write. That is true today. Nothing this side of heaven can truly tell of the love of a mother. Thank you Lord!

Bill