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Monday, May 08, 2006

Mother's Day

Mother's day is this Sunday, May 14th.

Mother's have their day. Fathers have their day. Pickles, believe it or not, have their week. That's right, there is an officially recognized international week of the pickle. What's more, it last longer than a week: it takes two full weekends. It kinda makes you feel that whatever you do for mom this year, it pales in comparison to what has been done for the pickle.

The first Mother's Day was held on May 10, 1908 at the Andrews Methodist Church in Grafton West Virginia. The purpose of the day was stated as:

1. To honor our mothers.

2. To bring families together.

3. To make us better children.

To brighten the lives of good mothers.

Those are still four very good purposes, aren't they?

One thing I've learned in life - you can fool your mom. The great philosopher Homer Simpson once said: "you couldn't fool your mother on the foolingest day of your life if you had an electrified fooling machine."

And I like the quote from Robert Frost, "A mother takes twenty years to make a man of her boy, and another woman makes a fool of him in twenty minutes."

Let's all take some time this week and remember our moms.

1 comment:

Jon said...

Hey, this was good stuff today. History and comedy all in the same blog! I can't express enough of all my mother has done for me. As some of you know, my father was not a very good role model...let's face it, he stunk as a role model. So my mother provided the guidance for me (and my siblings) in this world and made sure we were in church and around Godly people as often as she could. I spent an awful lot of time in church when I was young for a guy who was not a PK...not that the time was awful because I got to explore the church and hang out with the custodian (who turned out to be one of my coolest Ranger Commanders in later years) and a wide variety of other stuff. When they could corral me, however, I got to read Bible stories and talk to the pastor (my oldest sister's godfather) about whatever questions came into my head. It was good stuff and a great foundation.

Anyway, that is only the first smidgen of what my mother has done for me and what she means to me. She and I have been through the tough times together, some of them caused by my father and some of them caused by yours truly. But, she never let me down and she never let me talk down about my father either because she knew how important renewing my relationship with him would be at some point in my life. She made it possible, through her love and kindness, for me to patch that relationship before he did four short years after they separated. Now, that's what I call a self sacrificing woman. And that's only one of a million things I could use to show that part of her spirit.

The bottom line is that mothers are important in the lives of their children. But I also know that not everyone reading this blog had a great mother like I did. Just as I didn't have the great father that some of you did either. And some kids just lose out all the way around when neither one of those parents are very good. But I do know one thing, God, the Father of us all, loves each and every one of us. He loves us more than an earthly father and more than an earthly mother can. He loves us so much that He waits patiently for us to come home, much as some parents wait for their children to come home after curfew. He loves us so much that He would give everything to protect us, as He has in giving up part of Himself through His Son, just as most parents would. He loves us enough to let us go through times in our lives that we can learn from, much as our parents do when we touch the stove. He loves us enough to forgive us for all that we have done against Him, much as our parents will forgive us if we are truly repentent.

As much as I love, honor, and respect my mother, I know that she was in my life by the grace of God, whom I love much, much more than can ever be measured.

Happy Mothers Day, Mom. Happy Creator's eternity, God! (Hey, if pickles can have two weekends, why can't God have some time?)

Love God, love people. Cherish them all.

Jon