12May2013 Brief Thoughts: Mothers

I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.  They have clung to me all my life.  Abraham Lincoln

On this Mother's Day I'm grateful for three women God planted in my life, adding grace and beauty, whose impact resounds daily on an unworthy man.

My grandmother lived beside us as I was growing up.  Her overarching presence casting a shadow over my childhood like the pair of ancient pecan trees the grew between our homes.  Baking biscuits, baiting fishing hooks, sharing wisdom, modeling prayer, grandparent meets dance partner.  Granny set the standard for the women in my life. 

Then there's my mama.  When a man is given a mother who prays for him daily he has a near-unfair advantage.  Mom embodied the phrase help-mate.  A career woman and mother of four.  She lived her faith and loved us.  She continues to live her faith and now she loves her grandchildren.  A graceful beacon, a friend, an example.

Finally there's D.  For the past dozen years she's been mother to my kids.  I know they don't give an instruction manual to parents but it seems like she was given a cheat sheet.  More likely her love for God impacts her call to motherhood.  Selfless, patient, compassionate, constant.  Just as likely to cook her babies a good home-cooked meal as play kickball in the backyard with them.  Not afraid to set them straight but the first one to stick a bandaid on a boo-boo and kiss away hurt feelings.  

Praise God for these three women, three mothers, three friends, three warriors.  Happy Mothers Day 2013.  

The sweetest sounds to mortals given
Are heard in Mother, Home, and Heaven. 

William Goldsmith Brown