Mother’s Day Tribute

Today all across our nation, we will officially celebrate Mother’s Day, giving tribute to the mothers who gave us birth, raised us, adopted us, mentored, nurtured, taught, trained, and prayed for us.  Some of us didn’t receive that from our mothers, but if we’re alive, a mother at least gave birth to us and that right has been denied to millions.  However, that isn’t my point today.

In the last minute flurry, perhaps, of buying cards, flowers, and other gifts; planning lunches, brunches, and various outings and special times to honor Mom, let’s pause for just a moment to remember that it is the unspoken messages from our mothers which leave the greatest and most lasting impression upon us.

While I received many spoken messages from Mother like “Brush your hair, wash your face, brush your teeth, use your manners, stand up straight, and ‘Pretty is, as Pretty does’, it was this unspoken message which influenced my life to the greatest degree for Eternity.

We didn’t go to Church regularly when I was a little girl growing up in Tennessee. Daddy wasn’t a religious man.  We only went occasionally when another businessman, perhaps, would invite Daddy to come to his Church and on Sunday morning there would be a mad scramble looking for little black patent leather shoes saved for special occasions, but not worn very often.  So I didn’t have formal religious training, so to speak, at home; but this one thing I had.

Every morning of my life, when I got up and headed downstairs for breakfast, looking for Mother and my “Good Morning” hug, I would find somewhere along the way, Mother’s open Bible, the glasses she used for reading, and an empty tea cup where she had had her morning tea and her devotions. Sometimes they would be by the armchair in the living room, sometimes on the dining room table where they had to be cleared away before the table was set for breakfast.

Mother never made a show of her faith – she never said much about it unless we asked her a question — she simply lived it, and in doing so she influenced my life for all Eternity.  She modeled by her example that God is important, that His Word is important, that devotion to Him comes first in a long work day, and that faith is important.

We knew that we were important to her.  She showed us and told us every day how much she loved us, but her silent act of worship each morning spoke volumes to this little girl and I am eternally grateful.

Because of her example I have a relationship with God that is my very lifeblood.  And so, on this Mother’s Day, as I have done many times before, I offer a prayer to say, “Thank you, Heavenly Father, for the gift of my mother, and for Your Presence in my life.”