I recently saw something going around on Facebook that said:
"What do you get your mom for Mother's Day when she deserves a mansion overlooking the ocean in Fiji but you have $3 in your checking account??"
Hah! The struggle is real.
You have birthed eleven children, Mama. (Four of them without a midwife.) You've raised some of them, and some you're still raising. You're a grandmother of four, and you have a five-year-old of your own at home... one of many still at home.
As the one who first made you a mother, I just want to say "THANK YOU" in a huge way, but the list is endless...
Thank you for all the loads of laundry you washed-- by hand, sometimes in a washtub, and eventually with a wringer washer. Cloth diapers notwithstanding.
Thank you for the example you set by always cooking every meal for us-- which seems to be somewhat rare these days. And you did it on a wood cookstove, with finicky temperatures.
Thank you for sewing us clothes... and patching them, mending them, countless times over.
Thank you for all the dishes you washed, all the grubby hands you cleaned, all the messy faces you wiped, all the baths you gave... all without the convenience of running water.
Thank you for all the potty-training... without a toilet. I think about our ice-encrusted outhouse seat and it's just my favorite. :D
Thank you for homeschooling. Any time I have a grammar question, I still ask myself what your answer would be. And even when the textbooks were closed, you were constantly teaching, but it felt fun.
Thank you for making us journal each day before school started. For saying, "Just write what you see" when I couldn't think of what to write. And now... there are few things that make me feel more alive than writing does.
Thank you for growing almost all of our food! It comes so naturally to me now, and I know that's why.
Thank you for every time you let me use the leftover transplants for my very own little garden after we'd put in the big one-- that was always one of the very happiest feelings for me.
Thank you for being a living, breathing encyclopedia. You said I was your "why" child, wanting to know what, how, where, and why everything worked... and I don't ever remember asking you a question you couldn't answer.
Thank you for your hugs. I still remember thinking that I liked the way you smelled.
Thank you for never, ever babysitting me with TV-- our lack of technology is the reason I have so many fond memories of instead making my own clay pots from clay I dug myself, sewing clothing for my dolls by hand, building little houses out of scrap wood, designing my dream of the "circle drive" garden, producing my own newsletters and magazines, writing "books," writing my own movie scripts and getting my siblings to help with acting and filming... etcetera. I'm sure it's also the reason that my favorite thing to do when I had free time was to read. Or bake. Or ride the horses.
Thank you for swallowing your gasps and probably praying hard as I trekked off to Egypt, did all sorts of gutsy things, and embarked on countless other exciting journeys that were the result of my hairbrained schemes.
Thank you for listening to Elisabeth Elliot with us on Saturday mornings. I still remember the opening music of Gateway To Joy, and Elisabeth's gentle words:
"'You are loved with an everlasting love"-- that's what the Bible says. 'And underneath are the everlasting arms.' This is your friend, Elisabeth Elliot..."There is no doubt in my mind that times like these were ones that developed the deep joy and undying passion I have for truly embracing God and His perfect design for women.
You know, I can never read the book of Proverbs without hearing many verses in your voice. Every morning, as we ate our oatmeal, you'd read the chapter of the day. I still remember how you'd cup your hand around your mouth and raise your voice for a dramatic effect as you read the invitations of Wisdom and Folly:
"Wisdom cries aloud in the street, in the markets she raises her voice; at the head of the noisy streets she cries out; at the entrance of the city gate she speaks: 'How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple? How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing and fools hate knowledge? If you turn at my reproof, behold, I will pour out my spirit to you; I will make my words known to you...'"I felt a deep longing for wisdom, even then, and soberly noted what Scripture had to say about the fate of the foolish and those who scorned correction. It was your voice that brought God's words to my heart at the tender age of five.
It seems like some moms can be delightful in public and a terror to their own children, but you're one of those who's more delightful the more a person gets to know you. I know you wouldn't want me to pretend you're perfect; nobody is. But I will say that you have the patience of a saint (the more moms I get to know, the more I realize this!) Some of the things that come to mind when I think of you are how you're an amazing artist, you're great at quilting, and you love blue glass and classical music. I think of puns, and how you try not to smile when you say them (just like Grandpa :')). And, violet pastilles! You make me smile.
Even in the areas where our interests are different, I just love you. :) And now as I'm a wife and mother to my own family, I'm so grateful to call you not simply my mother, but my sweet FRIEND. Your love and grace are evident, such as how I'm sure you'll read this mass of jumbled, less-than-eloquent thoughts and still think it's beautiful. :)
It's because of you that I love learning. It's because of you that cooking from scratch is the only way I know how to cook. It's because of you that I love to be frugal and enjoy being a blessing to my husband in that way. It's because of you that nagging is abhorrent in my mind-- I never once saw you do it to my dad.
Proverbs 31 says that the virtuous woman's children "rise up and call her blessed," which I will gladly and proudly do for as long as I live!
"Give her the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates."Thank you, Mama, for all the ways you have given and continue to give of yourself to your family.
Happy Mother's Day!!!
I love you with all my heart,
Christiana
