Living It Up : She Always Had Our Back

“She Always Had Our Back!

My mom always had her family's back! You know, just like Jesus does for us now. She had a reverential fear of God and a fierce love for her family. But her momma bear could surface on a dime when she thought someone was mistreating one of her cubs! And even though she was a lady, I’ll always remember the times when she would say, “If anyone messes with one of MY kids, I’ll let em have it!” That was not just for my 3 sisters and me. She meant that for her grands and great grands too! She also came from a long line of "loving" comedians with the gift of humor that God gave them. Gratefully we saw that gift in her until the very end.

In her last days, she became less mobile and mostly in one place. That is when I would study her. I observed her mannerisms, her features and the way she did things because I was seeing many of those things in me. On one of our visits with her, she was in bed with both hands under the covers. So I pulled her right hand out and held it against mine. As she watched but didn’t understand, I mentioned how our hands were identical in size and that our fingers looked the same. Then, as she noticed tears streaming down my face, she pulled out her left hand and said, “Well look here! I have another one!” I laughed, shook my head and said, "Of course you do mom and I sure do love you!" During those final years, her observations and comments about everything were just like that, simple and matter of fact. She also had no future worries and no memories of sadness. She enjoyed what was present and thought only of what was going on in the moment. Mom was always a great teacher to me but became even more so in her final days.

Mother's Day can be bitter for some and sweet or sad to others. Whatever it represents to you, let's choose to be fully present, if we are so blessed to have time with them, and pure in our thinking towards them as our moms. Let's make a decision not to be upset about the past or concerned about the days ahead. Instead, let's give honor to her as the one who gave us life and let's give gratitude to and have trust in God for choosing the women He did to be our mothers. As the scripture below tells us, God will keep an incredible promise to us when we do so!

So, Happy Mother's Day Moms! You are in our hearts as great teachers of priceless lessons no formal education can buy. We choose to honor you not just on Mother's Day but everyday!

"Honor your father and mother. This is the first of God's Ten Commandments that ends with a promise.
And this is the promise: that if you honor your father and mother, yours will be a long life, full of blessing" Ephesians 6:2-3.