This weekend we will celebrate Mother’s Day, a day first celebrated in 1908. It is a day we remember mothers, biological, adoptive, and even spiritual mothers, women who have helped us become who we are today. Truly it’s a day we we celebrate the most precious women in our lives. And so I wanted to share with you just how precious and how celebrated my mother is in my life.
Dear Mom,
Your influence on my life has had a deeper impact than perhaps any other person on the face of the planet. Your faith, your hard work, your loyalty to family has been an example to me and to my children for generations to come. Mom I can remember being a little girl, no more than 4 or 5 years old sitting on your lap as you read to me stories from the Bible. You would talk with me about faith. Your faith and how you gave your life to Jesus Christ at age of 17. You wondered out loud if you were called into ministry, perhaps even the mission field, but recognized how life choices made that all but impossible. And I understood just how powerfully Jesus Christ had claimed your life, because when you talked about Jesus you would always cry. Not sad tears of guilt or oppression, but joy-filled tears of eternal anticipation. Your faith was simple, you had never read depths of 20th century theologians, but you listened to the words of modern day preachers like Billy Graham. You made us go to church even when we didn’t want to go, even when we didn’t want to participate, and even when we questioned if we had faith at all.
We never had tough theological debates, but I can remember pulling out the hymn book as we were washing and drying dishes talking about heaven and who would be there when we get there. You didn’t give me sugar coated answers when I asked, “will grandpa Paul be in heaven we we die?” And you allowed me to cry real tears of pain when I longed to see the people I loved.
Mom I’m not saying you were perfect, because Lord knows we human beings never are. We argued, we fought, I ran away at least three times in high school. But even in the middle of all of that chaos, my strong will, your determination, you never stopped trying to reach out to me, to find me, and to help me find my way. You know for a long time I didn’t think I was anything like you. You were the quiet one, the meek one, the one who struggle to speak in front of a group. How could your daughter be anything like you, but as I raise my children, as I read to them and talk to them about my faith, I realize I’m just doing what you taught me to do, what you did with Julie, Jason, and I.
There is no manual to motherhood, no instructional guidebook to tell me how to get it right. But there aren’t perfect parents either. And so as I reflect on this Mother’s Day I realize that your example and your prayers sustain me and help me to be the mother, the wife, the pastor I am called to be. As I anticipate the birth of another child, another one of your grandchildren I am great full for your faith, as well as the faith of your mother (grandma Marie) who taught you about Jesus and led you to go to church. My prayer is that my faith-filled legacy leads my children, grandchildren, and the generations after them to be radical disciples of Jesus Christ.
Mom I love you,
Rachel
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