Mother's Day 2010

Actually mother's day has come and gone. A day that was meant to honor mom truly for some of us brings much anxiety and tension. When a mom and a child are at odds with one another, Mother's day brings hope to the mother that the child will at least call, share some kind words of thanks for loving me, taking care of me, giving me life, standing by me when all others won't, you know that kind of thing that only a mother would think a child might say. I went to lunch with my girlfriends from church today and one of the other moms said she was so relieved that mother's day was over. It brought a week of hoping her son would call, even though she really didn't hold out much hope. Even though she had one child with her that day, she was sad that the other child wasn't there also. Just like my friend I had one of our sons with me, mine was ever thoughtful, the oldest child, and as always had a card for me with hand written words expressing his appreciation for me. It was priceless to me and I was so thankful to have him and his family with me on that day. Like my friend we know we won't get the response from the other child that we so hope for, but because we are mother's we never stop loving them and hoping one day things will be different and we know Monday morning we can put Mother's Day behind us for another year and look ahead to future with hope that next year may be different.

I have been reading a book called Tending Roses. It is about an elderly grandmother that still lives on the homeplace but is getting unable to live alone and her granddaughter and her husband and 4 month old son are staying with her a few weeks before the rest of the family comes to put her in a nursing home. The granddaughter gets to know her sometimes crotchety old grandmother in a way she has never known her before, partly because of her grandmother's diary that she comes upon from time to time. One of the entries in the diary was about the grandmother as a new bride before she had children. She had come into her marriage with nothing, no dowry, extremely poor but her husband understood she needed something to call her own and he gave her the space and time to grow a rose garden even though on a farm there was always work to be done, he provided this respite for her. Her roses were beautiful and she tended them well, but as her children came along she had to leave the garden and let the roses grow wild. When her children were all grown and her husband had passed away she started tending her rose garden once again and once again it was beautiful, but she realized that her life was most fulfilling when she didn't have time to tend the roses and they just grew wild. Young mothers please know that this will be one of the most precious times of your life. Take time out of your day to make their life fun, play with them when they need a playmate, enjoy their neediness of you and your time because there will come a time when the house is silent, and they no longer are needy of your time and you will long for their voice and the sharing of their day with you.

I look back and like any mother have regrets for the way I handled some things, maybe a lot of things, but I also know that with all my heart I tried diligently to bring up my boys in a way that would be pleasing to the Lord. I can honestly say I did the best I knew how to as far as bringing up children. I had too many days when I was stressed over money and bills, but I also had days when I played games with them and we went outside and played baseball or I watched them swim or jump on the trampoline. There were days we rode bikes and walked down the dirt road and walked down to Granny's house to see her garden or just say hell-o or have Sunday dinner at her house. YUMMM! We all still miss those meals! Those were all precious days and like any mother I miss them but I am so blessed to have my son come home on mother's day with his family and I cherish the time I will have with his children knowing how quickly the time will pass and they will be grown up with children of their own. Thank you Lord for the blessing of children and granchildren in our lives.