A Tribute; My Mother

It is yet another Mother's Day...and never have I appreciated Mother's Day as much until I reached the point of motherhood myself.  There are so many demands...so many expectations...so many "shoulds" and "need tos" and "wish I would have" and "wish I could have"...so many tugs and pulls and how one manages to make it through some days is only understandable to the God above who made us to withstand all that we go through each and every day.  But, the beauty of that, is that, if we allow Him to take us through it, He gives us the joy that makes us want to do it again and again and we can get up and make it through another day.  That we never regret giving of ourselves and only regret when we don't -- only the most Selfless One can give that joy and desire to us.  Selflessness is not a human trait-- it's "other worldly" and those momma's that have peace, joy, and love in the midst of the most difficult days can only find it through Christ-- the One that is the essence of giving.

To my most precious mother ~
How thankful I am that God gave me YOU as my mother.  When He formed me inside of you, He knew you'd be the perfect one for me to wipe away my tears, to stop my fights between me and my siblings, to guide my heart & personhood toward Him and towards the one He was creating me to be.  Thank you for all the endless hours of...well, endless hours!  I'm so thankful you've supported my every step-- and how crazy I think you and Dad must have been for letting me travel half way to the south pole when I was only 16 to allow my eyes to be opened to God working globally and open my eyes to all of His precious children all around the world...May I have the faith to let my children go when God says it's time.  You've done that so well and all credit goes to you and Dad for opening your hands at the right time and trusting God to do the rest.  Though I am your child, you and Dad have known and demonstrated that I am God's child first and foremost and His plans for me are perfect.  What a beautiful model of what I hope to do for my children.  You are my hero for also looking to Him for your "what next" as you've grown out of the "parental" stage.  You aren't settling for a selfish life filled with things and travels and gaining of earthly "things."  Though you could choose to invest your time, energy, and finances in temporal things that would be fun for awhile, you are choosing instead to do the harder work-- to keep pursuing where God wants you to serve-- and I am praying you now to the otherside of the world (and I will pray you back=).  You continue to open my eyes to God's global work and love for His children all around the world.  You amaze me and I hope I can serve Him as faithfully as you've shown me.

Thank you for all your love, faithfulness, and for loving CHRIST and demonstrating to me a small part of His heart.

"The days are long, but the years are short." 

(My favorite mother quote that got me through toddlerhood 4 times over! ...um, and that gets me through a lot of other days, too!)

How true...I'm so thankful for my four little ones...who are already getting "not so little" anymore!  I'm off to spend a bit of time looking at their baby albums to remind me of all I already have...the most precious, greatest, blessings of my lifetime.

Solo Deo Gloria!

~ Kristen J.