Happy Mother's Day, Mom!

Mother’s Day has always been a special day to me! I can remember when we used to wear flowers on Mother’s Day – white if your mother had passed away, red if she was still alive. My Dad always gave us a beautiful flower to wear to church. He is a Baptist preacher and back in the day, I would always enjoy when he would ask for different mothers to stand so they could be honored...sometimes it was the oldest mother, sometimes the youngest mother, sometimes the mother who had traveled the longest distance to be there that day, etc. These ladies would be presented a corsage and were honored with lots of clapping. As a child, it was fun to see who these special ladies would be each year!

 I was blessed to be brought up in the church and had many wonderful women role models in my life! But my best role model and mentor was and still is my mom! Full of grace and love, a lot of fun, a constant companion and encouraging support to my Dad, one who gently (and sometimes not so gently! Ha!) challenged me to always do my best…but most of all, one who modeled a love for Christ, His word, His people, for sharing His love with others and one of my biggest prayer warriors! My mom is fighting a terrible debilitating, degenerative disease right now. It breaks my heart to see this beautiful woman going through this hard season…but she is trying to handle it as best as she can. My Dad is modeling an unbelievable amount of love and grace as he constantly cares for her every need.

I became a mom to Brantley 32 ½ years ago and she has been a blessing from the Lord from day one! We have always enjoyed sharing life together…through tough times and great times! What a joy to be her Mom! Then when I married Pete 20 years ago, I was blessed to add Peter and Allison to my fold as well as another gift to me in his mom who quickly became another incredible role model for me. Pete and I both agreed that God blessed us not just with each other but with the gift of being able to love each other’s children. I have always said that though Peter and Allison, their spouses and children are not mine by blood, they are without a doubt, my children/grandchildren by heart and will always be so! With three wonderful children and spouses and five special grandchildren, I am blessed indeed!

I recently listened to a podcast of my pastor, Dick Lincoln, preaching a sermon about mothers several years ago. It was based on II Timothy 1:5 when Paul told Timothy, “I know how much you trust the Lord, just as your mother Eunice and your grandmother Lois do” and later Paul says in II Timothy 3:15, “You know how when you were a small child, you were taught the holy scriptures and it is these that make you wise to accept God’s salvation by trusting in Christ Jesus.”  Dick’s reminder was that it was Timothy’s mom and grandmother’s investment in his life that helped him become the man of God he was…and it wasn’t because things were perfect. Scripture tells us Eunice was Jewish and her husband was Greek…obviously that probably caused tension in that home! Yet she must have modeled an unwavering love for God and Jesus to Timothy and helped ground him in the Word.

 To me, that is one of the best gifts we can give our children…to be that kind of anchor for them in the Lord, for our children and grandchildren to see that no matter what, our love for Jesus comes first, our desire to serve Him is real and obvious, that His Word guides our lives and that our strength and joy come from Him! That is what I grew up seeing in my home, that is what I pray our children and  grandchildren have seen from Pete and me and will continue to see from me. The other gift Pete and I both believed in strongly is verbally telling our children and grandchildren that we love them! We both believed they needed our hugs and to hear our love for them. I have always been blessed to hear those words from my Mom and Dad and to have had that unconditional love…I want to pass that on to our children and grandchildren!

I have had the blessing of being involved in other young moms’ lives over the years…I was simply living out the Titus 2 example set by my mom as I watched her invest in women younger than she was over and over again through the years. Some of the young women in my life did not come from Christian homes and I have always told them, “Then you begin this gift of raising your children in this kind of home…you model Jesus being Lord in your life and pass that gift down to your children.” It is never too late to begin to create that legacy! What a gift to give them! Generations do affect the next generation! It is a ripple effect inside and outside our families! I want to be part of that ripple!

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom!

Thank you for loving me, investing in me and most of all,

teaching me to love Jesus with all that I am! I will always

cherish our memories and thank the Lord for giving you to me!

 I love you!

"Her children will rise up and call her blessed." Proverbs 31:28