Mom

Moms are great and whether yours has a giant anchor on her forearm or walks like Mother Teresa there is no replacement for your mom. Mine is no longer here on the earth with me but I can still remember her pleasant voice, fragrant perfume and her warm, wonderful smile. It’s funny how even just the slightest stimulus can trigger a memory of mom. For me it’s the smell of freshly baked chocolate chip cookies, as air currents carry their inviting smell from cooling rack to the screen door welcoming me home again. It’s also the smell of laundry, freshly pressed, folded and neatly laid on my bed. A dresser drawer full of clean socks paired up and folded in upon themselves waiting for two young feet to climb in. Moms are really quite amazing and indispensable.
 

By chance if your memories of mom are not happy ones, or maybe she faltered and stumbled like most of us do from time to time, I like to say that our God has His arms wide open for you to fall into. He will never leave you or forsake you. Moms first bring us into the world under great pain and duress. As we grow they never abandoned us for another, forgot our birthday or failed to mail us a card even as we get older and move away. It was almost like our moms could see into the future. When something unforeseen would happen there she would be waiting with a dry shirt, shoes and pants and of course a smile. She always traveled with a very large bag which was completely stocked up prepared for anything that life could throw at her. She was a rare mix between Mary Poppins and Chuck Norris. She guarded her young with the tenacity of a pit bull.

 

Grocery store flowers slammed in a vase are not a great enough sentiment for the woman who lived to pull us out of harm’s way. Mom would always go to bat for us in a pinch even if it meant a trip to the principals’ office; she always had our backs and never gave up! She was an incredibly driven soul who kept the house clean even when she should have been in bed from a bad case of the flu. She always clipped coupons before shopping for the groceries and cooked mash potatoes, gravy and fried chicken every Friday night.

 

There’s no medal of honor that is priceless enough to be pinned on the chests of our mothers. Her shoulder became our head rest as she paced back and forth night after night when we were sick. Mom barely slept, it was as if she was a watchman always alert and on guard waiting for our enemies. Just the slightest squeak, muffled cry or even a peep from our cribs would bring her up bounding up out of a dead night sleep. She always kept an extra binky in her purse.

 

A cheap, drug store bought, card hastily filled out would bring tears to her eyes. When we were not within her reach, our mother’s faithful prayers would continually rise up to God’s throne room. She made sure her faithful petitions for our well being and safety found their way into the Lord’s presence. In fact not a night would go by when we were not reminded by our mothers to say our prayers before we went to bed. When our first day of school came it was mom who encouraged us to take a step of faith and get into the huge, bright yellow school bus. And when it turned out to be the worst day of our lives it was mom who had fresh cookies and milk waiting for us when we came home.

 

All the gold in the world would not come close to the worth of our moms. It’s a mystery of the universe how God made moms so sweet, kind and caring and so very full of love. I know for certain there is a special place in heaven for moms, a place where they will be rewarded for all the good they did in their lives and just maybe when their children arrive to be with her, then the family will once again be reunited to sing her praise.

 

There really are no presents precious enough for our moms. Not enough gold or silver anywhere in the universe but you know she would be happy just to get a hug from us, to see us smile as we left the house or even just to get a phone call when we moved far away. We were her treasure, the one she so lovingly poured her life into and raised us to adulthood.