This year’s Mother’s Day was different from last year’s as many of us had been quarantined. It made me appreciate even more each moment with Mom.

Even though Mother’s Day 2021 has just passed, I wanted us to still ponder you as a Mom and our moms for a bit.  How were you honored this year? How did you honor your Mom?

This year I bought a journal called “50 Things About My Mother: A Celebration.” I confess to you I am still working on it page by page. It lists different questions like “I’ll always ask your advice about…” and other statements or questions like that.

Within the journal I’ll include some of the memories and accomplishments I owe all to Mom. Here are a few:

1) Thank you, Mom, for your unconditional love and support as Lord nudged me to launch a new ministry last April called Blessings Brokers, a Christian Donor Development Consulting Firm. Your rock solid faith and courage continues to bolster mine.

2)  Thank you for serving as a patient gentle nurse and  caregiver last December/January as you helped me take care of my 67-year-old cousin and your nephew Mark as he suffered with a cirrhosis of the liver diagnosis. He was able to get into an assisted living facility in January thanks to your nursing his open wounds caused by edema. He lived 6 1/2 months and went to be with Jesus on 5/4/20. Thank you for helping me honor him with a Memorial Service last July and scattering his ashes on the Blue Ridge Parkway. Thank you for helping me love him unconditionally.

3) Thank you for praying for me for years before I was even conceived. Since my only brother Jamie is 12 years older than me, you said you suffered a miscarriage and complications as you and Dad tried for more children after Jamie. You were about to give up when you found out you were pregnant with me.  Thanks be to God for His plan and His timing. Thank you for being my Mom.

4) Thank you for serving as a room mother in elementary school and chaperoning our field trips.

5) Thank you for dancing and for teaching me to dance. I always loved watching you and your brothers, your family shag dancing to beach music at my grandmother’s home growing up. I remember after Thanksgiving meals that the men would push aside the dinner table to create a large dance floor, perfect for dancing and making a “Soul Train”  line. We had so much fun. Watching you dance is a joy.

6) Thank you for displaying the Fruit of the Spirit each day and showing me Jesus’ unconditional love through you. “But the fruit of the Spirit IS (that means all one fruit) love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and  self-control. Against such things there is no law.” –Galatians 5:22-23 NIV

7) Thank you taking such good care of  me six years ago after my serious six-car accident. You were there every moment, from meeting me at the Trauma Center soon after the ambulance transported me, to gently dressing my wounds, to serving every meal, driving me everywhere as I recuperated. Words cannot express my gratitude for you being there, being present.

8) Thank you for the example of your well-read, well-worn Bible that shows to me and to anyone how “Thy Word is a lamp unto your feet and a light unto your path.” Psalm 119:105.  If we may be the only Bible someone may ever read, you radiate the Word. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us.” John 1:14a NIV

9) Thank you for teaching me the love of flowers and God’s majesty. I appreciate that you asked me growing up to “dead-head” our 100+ roses each day after school in our garden. I will always remember the wonderful fragrance of roses in every room of our home growing up–what a gift.

10) Thank you for giving me the grace and freedom and wide open space to fail and succeed, knowing you would love me unconditionally.  You are the best cheerleader and encourager I know.

For all of us who struggle with not being a traditional Mom, may this prayer encourage each of us.

Reflect:

–How were you honored as a Mom? How did you honor your Mom for Mother’s Day? Please comment.

Renew:

–“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 ESV

–“Standing near the cross were Jesus’ mother, and his mother’s sister, Mary (the wife of Clopus), and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw His mother standing there beside the disciple he loved, he said to her, ‘Dear woman, here is your son.’ And he said to this disciple, ‘Here is your mother.’ And from then on this disciple took her into his home.” –John 19-25-27 NLT

Recharge:

–Which mentor lady in your life will you still show appreciation for?

—“All I am I owe to my Mother.” –Abraham Lincoln