Senior 46: Mother's Day
So I'm back from Men's Chorale Tour. The last week has been full and rich beyond the capacity of one or probably even a dozen blog posts to describe.
But through it all, I have had at the back of my mind the thought of a Mother's Day post and what to write in honor of my mother.
Actually, this has presented an immense challenge: how can I capture, succinctly and accurately, the full extent of my indebtedness to my mother and all that she has done for me and means to me? My mother is an amazing and wonderful lady. And in this, I do not exaggerate. I suspect that most of us think our mother's very ordinary only because we do not regularly take the time to reflect on who they are and all they have done. Try making a list--thinking long and hard about it, taking seriously all those attributes and incidents that you usually take for granted, beginning with the fact that she carried you and sustained your life in the womb for nine months before giving birth to you--and see how long it goes.
I remember picnics on the living room carpet, Bill Peet and Chris Van Allsburg books, trips to the library, jumping on billowing bed sheets, cocoa on rainy days, peanut butter on apples (even though my dad still thinks that's weird), kindergarten drawings preserved over the years, Japanese rice crackers after doctor's visits, preparing Christmas dinners together, sugar cookies and Mexican wedding cakes, long rides to orchestra rehearsals, M&M's and mints, (corny) jokes and raucous laughter, the bye-bye-lady-bug story, Twilight Zone episodes revisited, bell peppers on my lunch sandwiches, and the list goes on.
More recently I have come to appreciate her role in my spiritual formation. She taught my Sunday school class for many years as well as Good News clubs and was always meticulous in her communication and instruction. She set aside time every morning to read the Bible and pray. She taped Bible verses to the bathroom mirror and around our house so that she could work on memorization while brushing her teeth or doing the dishes. She keeps a Bible next to the treadmill so that she can read while exercising. She has been and continues to be a model of discipline, challenging me to take seriously my commitment to Christ.
In the last year and months I have seen how she continues to mature in her walk with God and her relationship with Jesus Christ. (What a remarkable gift that is to one's child: to let him or her see God actively working and moving in your life.) She's still growing--and that is an inspiration to me.
--
I could go on, of course, but I want to turn for a moment from lists to a brief reflection on a mother's love. Mother's love is one of the most cherished things in a person's life, stemming from (what is likely) the deepest and most profound bond to be found in the natural world. The mother as life-giver and life-sustainer is connected to her child at the deepest level. That relationship is there before her child is born, before he or she has said or done anything. The love that accompanies it is unconditional, asking nothing of the recipient and placing no expectations on him or her. It endures through short-comings and disappointments just because it is rooted in a more basic reality.
But we must not make the mistake of thinking that this kind of love is limited to the mother-son and mother-daughter relationships. There is a still more-basic spiritual bond, of which all natural ones are only a shadow. God is the true and ultimate life-giver and life-sustainer. His love for us existed before we were ever created, before we had done anything, either good or bad. He loves us apart from our actions (even in spite of them) and, in the midst of our rebellion in sin, sent His Son Jesus Christ to bring about restoration of broken relationship. His love is unconditional.
The realization of this deep connection to God, through Jesus Christ, is available to all who will receive it. From that realization and restoration comes the opportunity for the follower of Jesus Christ, as a member of His body, to extend the love of God to others and to direct others to the love of God.
The parallels between these loves is not accidental; the one is a shadow of and points to the other. And the significance of Mother Love is not diminished, but rather augmented by virtue of its relationship to God's unconditional love.
--
Are you getting some idea of how amazing my mother is? Life-giver, life-sustainer, comforter, teacher, model of discipline, and guide to true love in Jesus Christ--she is my one and only mother.
Thank you, Mom, for everything you've done and do; and for who you are. Words cannot capture all that you have given me, and I am overwhelmed by a few moments reflection on the significance of your love for me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
--
"Happy Mother's Day!" to all the moms out there, who have done so much for their children. May God richly bless you and yours, today and hereafter.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
But through it all, I have had at the back of my mind the thought of a Mother's Day post and what to write in honor of my mother.
Actually, this has presented an immense challenge: how can I capture, succinctly and accurately, the full extent of my indebtedness to my mother and all that she has done for me and means to me? My mother is an amazing and wonderful lady. And in this, I do not exaggerate. I suspect that most of us think our mother's very ordinary only because we do not regularly take the time to reflect on who they are and all they have done. Try making a list--thinking long and hard about it, taking seriously all those attributes and incidents that you usually take for granted, beginning with the fact that she carried you and sustained your life in the womb for nine months before giving birth to you--and see how long it goes.
I remember picnics on the living room carpet, Bill Peet and Chris Van Allsburg books, trips to the library, jumping on billowing bed sheets, cocoa on rainy days, peanut butter on apples (even though my dad still thinks that's weird), kindergarten drawings preserved over the years, Japanese rice crackers after doctor's visits, preparing Christmas dinners together, sugar cookies and Mexican wedding cakes, long rides to orchestra rehearsals, M&M's and mints, (corny) jokes and raucous laughter, the bye-bye-lady-bug story, Twilight Zone episodes revisited, bell peppers on my lunch sandwiches, and the list goes on.
More recently I have come to appreciate her role in my spiritual formation. She taught my Sunday school class for many years as well as Good News clubs and was always meticulous in her communication and instruction. She set aside time every morning to read the Bible and pray. She taped Bible verses to the bathroom mirror and around our house so that she could work on memorization while brushing her teeth or doing the dishes. She keeps a Bible next to the treadmill so that she can read while exercising. She has been and continues to be a model of discipline, challenging me to take seriously my commitment to Christ.
In the last year and months I have seen how she continues to mature in her walk with God and her relationship with Jesus Christ. (What a remarkable gift that is to one's child: to let him or her see God actively working and moving in your life.) She's still growing--and that is an inspiration to me.
--
I could go on, of course, but I want to turn for a moment from lists to a brief reflection on a mother's love. Mother's love is one of the most cherished things in a person's life, stemming from (what is likely) the deepest and most profound bond to be found in the natural world. The mother as life-giver and life-sustainer is connected to her child at the deepest level. That relationship is there before her child is born, before he or she has said or done anything. The love that accompanies it is unconditional, asking nothing of the recipient and placing no expectations on him or her. It endures through short-comings and disappointments just because it is rooted in a more basic reality.
But we must not make the mistake of thinking that this kind of love is limited to the mother-son and mother-daughter relationships. There is a still more-basic spiritual bond, of which all natural ones are only a shadow. God is the true and ultimate life-giver and life-sustainer. His love for us existed before we were ever created, before we had done anything, either good or bad. He loves us apart from our actions (even in spite of them) and, in the midst of our rebellion in sin, sent His Son Jesus Christ to bring about restoration of broken relationship. His love is unconditional.
The realization of this deep connection to God, through Jesus Christ, is available to all who will receive it. From that realization and restoration comes the opportunity for the follower of Jesus Christ, as a member of His body, to extend the love of God to others and to direct others to the love of God.
The parallels between these loves is not accidental; the one is a shadow of and points to the other. And the significance of Mother Love is not diminished, but rather augmented by virtue of its relationship to God's unconditional love.
--
Are you getting some idea of how amazing my mother is? Life-giver, life-sustainer, comforter, teacher, model of discipline, and guide to true love in Jesus Christ--she is my one and only mother.
Thank you, Mom, for everything you've done and do; and for who you are. Words cannot capture all that you have given me, and I am overwhelmed by a few moments reflection on the significance of your love for me. Thank you, from the bottom of my heart.
--
"Happy Mother's Day!" to all the moms out there, who have done so much for their children. May God richly bless you and yours, today and hereafter.
--
God is in this place,
And that reality, seen and understood by the grace of God in Christ Jesus through the work of the Holy Spirit, makes all the difference in the world.
posted by Metaphysician_delta | 9:19 PM
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