Love To My Mother

A mother’s love gets a lot of hype in our society. The balance is wrong I think. In as much as the nurturing love of a mother is important to a baby’s healthy upbringing, my reading on the situation was that it required both the father and the mother. Neglecting one and heightening the role of the other is not healthy.

In my life experience the greatest initial gift a child has is the parents. I was blessed to have a mother and father who were devoted husband and wife and remain that way to this day. As a result of their love for each other that I witnessed and was blessed by I was brought up in a household that took basic necessities for granted and was solid even at the worst of times. My dad had a massive understated role in that. The more obvious role was taken by my mother.

It’s a special day for my Mother as she celebrates her birthday today. I won’t share how old she is, but it was hilarious that the guess of one of her grandchildren as to her age was 72 – she’s not that old yet and another of her grandchildren guessed she was 90! In any case, God has blessed her to see another year and that is worth celebrating in itself.

I am very certain that the life journey of my mother to this point has been one full of ups and downs. I know for certain that she took a lot of grief for sacrifices she made in her life and she gave up a lot to see her children were looked after as much as she could. Her faith in God was an inspiration to me and her commitment to God was something that influences me to this day. I don’t have my mother’s faith, but the faith I have is only because of my mother’s faith. (Don’t get me wrong when I say I don’t have my mother’s faith – we both believe in Jesus, etc. It is to say that I stand on what I believe, not solely on what my mother believes as if I can use that as an excuse.)

In all my years of being a man, I’ve never been a woman and I have no intention of making that happen – no intention whatsoever. My idea of what a woman is like is shaped hugely by the example of my mother and I’ve learnt since then that it’s unfair to level that at the rest of the female race, but then in my eyes my mother is a phenomenal woman. I’ve since discovered that there is more to womanhood that what my mother showed – my wife for example shares a similar quality of being a woman, but is very different to my mother (ha! Are they ever different). My sister likewise shares that similarity of being from the female fraternity (does that make sense? Female Fraternity – am I confusing myself there) and she’s different in a lot of ways to my Mum. (Though I’ve since picked up recently that they have very similar vocal tones. Must be in the genes.)

I am grateful for what my mother showed about womanhood. I’m grateful that Mum did not pretend she had it altogether. I am glad that she showed that life is about being vulnerable and in need as the core of finding true strength. I am also glad that my mother showed generosity through more than money but through giving of her time, her heart, her self.

If I am anything good, if anyone has derived a pleasurable memory from anything I’ve done or been related to it is a product of being the son of a loving father and a very loving Mum.

Thank you Lord for a maidservant who serves you gladly. Thanks Dad for marrying such a wonderful woman. Thanks siblings for serving and honouring such a fantastic Mum.

Thanks Mum – I love you.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

dmcd