MY MOTHER REMEMBERED

Everyone is focused on the holiday of this weekend: MOTHER'S DAY, and so am I! I am, once again, thinking of my own mother and all that she taught me and gave me in the forty-eight years we were here together. One of the main things she taught me is a quote by Stephen De Grellet:
"I shall pass through this world but once.
If, therefore, there should be any kindness I can show,
Or any good thing I can do, let me do it now...
For I shall not pass this way again."

My Mama was adopted at the age of three by a Southern Baptist Preacher, his wife and their three biological sons. She was always so very thankful for the secure and happy haven this family provided for her. Later, she married my Daddy and fulfilled her lifetime dream of being a foreign missionary along with him since that was also his dream and passion. They lived in Africa for 5 years before returning stateside to care for their aging parents. Once they returned, they had 3 more of their six children (including me! I was # 5!) They celebrated their 58th year of marriage just before her death in 2006. What I remember the most about living with Mom was that she was always helping others...taking fresh baked cakes and punch to the veterans at the local VA Hospital, preparing Wednesday night dinner at church, and helping anyone, anywhere that needed a hand.
When I think about and remember my Mama, it is confirmed to me that the best moms don't just talk about what's right and wrong-they set good examples and inspire their sons and daughters to follow in their footsteps.
Being a good mother isn't easy.
Robert Louis Stevenson said it very well:
"To be rich in admiration and free from envy, to rejoice greatly in the good of others, to love with such generosity of heart that your love is still a dear possession in absence or unkindness, these are gifts which money cannot buy, and in many cases, which ONLY a wise and devoted mother can bestow as the greatest of all possessions to her children."
THANKS, MOM, for everything, and God bless you!