Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Honoring Mama

Ahhh…Mother’s Day…that Hallmark Holiday that nudges us to do what we should do daily…appreciate our mothers. I truly wish I had done more appreciating and less chafing while my mama was still with me. I never really saw that her constant efforts to “improve” me were her way of showing love until she was gone. For most of my life I thought that there must be something terribly wrong with me if she had to fuss over me so.

Mama said just before she died that the happiest day of her life was the day I was born, and after thinking about it, I realized that it was simply because I made her a mother...the most important role in her life and mine.

 I heard a sermon at one of our baby’s baptisms that pointed out that the infants being brought to the font to be blessed and accepted as Christ’s own had done nothing at all to deserve being quite as beloved as they certainly were, each all dressed up in their baptismal finery and held in loving arms. They had simply been born. As I look at the picture attached, I can see that that belovedness was in my mother from the early hours of my birth. I didn’t earn it; I didn’t have to appreciate it; I didn’t even have to reciprocate it…but I did.

 I suppose the greatest honor my sister and I ever paid my mama was wanting to be just like her, only maybe a bit better. We learned the lessons she taught us well, and as I see our girls being an even better version of Mama than we were, I know that her lessons will live on.

I was so lucky to have Mama for as long as I did, and as a good friend told me I would, I still miss her everyday. But this Mother’s Day my children and grandchildren will come over for a swim and bring a meal, and my greatest delight will be in honoring my daughters as mothers.

Blessings,
Janie

Monday, May 2, 2011

New Age

I heard the news just before bedtime last night.  We had eradicated Osama Bin Laden.  This morning the details of a carefully planned and executed attack are still emerging.  The reaction in Washington and other major cities is one of jubilation.

It’s hard for me to celebrate the taking of anyone’s life, even someone so evil that most of us still have an indellible vision of the damage that resulted from Osama Bin Laden’s fanatical crusade to destroy our beloved country.

My husband, whose idea of law and order is similar to that of a posse in an old western film, and I, who cherish life even when it is twisted and distorted, will disagree on many things, but will agree that no tears will be shed for the monster who orchestrated the event that has given all Americans a different idea about how secure we might be. The very idea of convincing young men in the prime of their life that they would be rewarded with dates and virgins for performing such a vile act is beyond my comprehension.


Who knows what new despot will emerge from this mess, but I’m beginning to see a glimmer of hope for civilization, although the prospect for it still seems somewhat distant. That hope eventually may lie in the ability to communicate freely and peacefully.

Maybe this is the beginning of a new era, perhaps even the hoped for Messianic Age when we’ll all live in harmony. Maybe the voices of hope and love will become louder than the voice of revenge and evil. I don’t know that I actually believe in that possibility completely yet, but I can imagine it happening, and that’s a start.


Blessings,
Janie