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2000-05-10 - Thanks Mom
Proverbs 31:25 (LB) She is a woman of strength and dignity
and has no fear of old age. 26 When she speaks, her words are
wise, and kindness is the rule for everything she says. 27 She
watches carefully all that goes on throughout her household and is never
lazy. 28 Her children stand and bless her; so does her husband.
He praises her with these words: 29 "There are many fine women
in the world, but you are the best of them all!"
Sunday is Mother's Day. I am very blessed to have a great mom. This past
Tuesday we had a frightening moment. My mom was in the emergency room with
all the symptoms of a stroke. Her mom had died suddenly with a stroke. During
the tense hours of waiting for test results, my mind was racing in rewind
mode, over my entire life. The overriding question going through my mind
was, "If mom dies today, will you have any regrets?" The only regret I would
have had was never writing her the following thank-you note. I want to share
this with you too, for many reasons. If you are a mom, I hope this is
motivational and encouraging to you. For the rest of you, I hope you will
join me in writing your mom a thank-you note for Sunday. Maybe you need to
just write your mom a note saying "I am sorry and I would like to come home."
Perhaps all you need to write is a simple "I love you, Mom." Some of you,
like my dad, lost your mom, and Mother's Day is not a day of happiness for
you. It brings back the pain of your loss. My prayer is that this devotional
will shift your thinking from what you lost toward remembering what you have
had and what you gained from your mom.
Dear Mom:
Happy Mother's Day! You gave us quite a scare last Tuesday. I am so thankful
your episode was an adverse reaction to your Parkinson's medicine and not
something more serious. As we waited for your test results, my mind went
into a thank-you mode. Here is a playback of that:
Thank you mom, for having me when you were thirty years old. Lots of people
in those days would have been upset, but one of my first memories of you
is your assurance that I was a gift from God. Thank you for teaching me to
walk and talk. Thank you for always being there. Thanks for the Band-Aids
and kisses on the scrapes and cuts. Thanks for reading me Bible stories every
night. Thanks for teaching me to pray. Thank you for making God real and
relevant to me. I can remember thousands of times, your answers to my childhood
questions were simply, "God made it that way" or "because that is how God
wanted it." You taught me that everything flows from a loving God. Thanks
for making me do all the things that I did not want to do, because you knew
they were for my good. You made me use good manners by respecting others,
holding doors for others, walking on the roadside of the sidewalk to protect
a girl from the splashing water of a passing car; you taught me to go first
in a revolving door so that I would be pushing the door and not you. Thanks
for teaching me how to cut my pancakes.
Thanks for smiling and laughing when I came home from my first day of elementary
school after I had volunteered you to be the grade parent. Thanks for smiling
and laughing every year until high school, when I volunteered you each year.
Thanks for helping me with my homework and encouraging me to do my best.
Thanks for not crushing my spirit with harsh words when I did not do as well
as I could in school. "Just try harder; just do your best", you would say
as you gave me a hug.
Thanks for not giving up on me when I went through my teenage years. I withdrew
from you and dad. I had nothing to say, but you never pushed me. You just
let me know you were there for me. Thanks for the boundaries you put around
me. They were designed to protect me, not stifle me. Thanks for putting those
books on adolescence and growing up in my bedroom. I read them all many times.
They helped me understand the changes my little body was going through. Thanks
for the booklets on the dangers of alcohol and drug abuse. They had a strong
impact on me. Thanks for the subscriptions to Christian Youth magazines.
Thank you for my little Bible. Though I still don't understand everything
in it, I do understand you are a mom like God intended Moms to be. I do
understand you reflect God's love.
Thanks for not being critical of me dropping out of college away from home
and for letting me enroll at college in our town. I was homesick. Thanks
for encouraging me to graduate. Thanks for typing all those papers! Thanks
for letting me come work in the family business. Thanks for understanding
when I did not want to be in insurance as my great-grandfather, grandfather
and father before me had. You always encouraged me to do what God gifted
me to do.
Thanks for accepting the girl I married as a child of your own. Thanks for
letting us have a separate life from you and dad. By the way, thanks for
loving dad through thick and thin. Thanks for loving my children as your
own. Thanks for understanding when I did not want you to spoil them! Thank
you for being a role model for us to follow in raising our kids.
Finally, thank you for our Monday lunch dates. We have missed only four in
the past 18 years. It's funny in a strange way, how you used to come pick
me up from work on Mondays; then gradually I started coming to get you. We
always ate at the same restaurant every Monday. The restaurants came and
went, but we would just find another place to eat. It was not the food, but
the fellowship that we craved. Now as we have grown older, I bring you lunch.
You have apologized for not being able to go out much anymore, but I want
to tell you again, it's not the restaurant or the food; it's being with you.
Someday I will write the book we are now living, "Mondays with Mom."
Happy Mother's Day mom. I love you,
David
Father, thank You so much for my mom. Thanks for all
the moms out there. Guide them and protect them. Lead them in your ways.
We pray for those that are hurting and grieving as Mother's Day approaches.
Not all moms are like mine, but surely there is some good to be found in
all moms. I pray that someone, somewhere will read this and write a short
note of reconciliation to his or her mom, a note of thanks or a simple "I
love you, mom." Father, we praise You for families! They are Your plan and
Your design. Thank You! In Christ's name, Amen.
David
david@masseyre.com
http://www.cfdevotionals.org
http://www.peacewithgod.com
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