Remembering My Mother

Sometimes it's hard to realize how quickly time passes.  Has it really been 12 years since my precious mother left this world behind?  As I look at the calendar, I realize it's true.

I still miss my mother terribly.  I've grown accustomed to her absence.  I don't like it, but I've grown accustomed to it.  Hardly a day has gone by in these twelve years that I haven't thought of her.  At first, always with great sadness.......not for her, but for me.  After all, she has gone to a much better place!  But she left behind a great void.

Over the years, however, the sorrow with which I always marked this day has evolved a bit.  Even though I still miss her greatly, my memories are not so much grieving the loss as celebrating the woman she was.  Celebrating the life she lived.  Celebrating her character.  Celebrating because I was blessed to be her daughter!

I loved my mother.  I respected her.  I admired her.  And especially on this anniversary of her passing, I miss her.

I miss the twinkle in her eye.  I miss laughing with her.  And shopping with her.  Pushing her through the mall in her wheelchair in the years after strokes began to take their toll.  I miss chatting on the phone.  I miss her macaroni and cheese (none better, ever!).....her potato salad.....her fruit cake cookies.  And her coconut cake and divinity at Christmas.

I admired her discipline and her dedication.  Every Saturday afternoon, without fail, she was at the church getting her classroom ready for the 6 year olds who would come to Sunday School the next day.  Then she would come home and bake a cake so we had dessert with our Sunday dinner.  Often she got up extra early on Sunday morning to fry the chicken before church so we didn't have to wait for our dinner when we got home from church.  And every Sunday morning she made sure we were fed, dressed, and out the door in time for her to be the first to arrive in her classroom, ready to greet the first child who arrived. She always had supper on the table when Daddy walked in the back door from work.  He never had to wait! The house was always clean.  The food was always ready on time.  I wish I could say the same of myself!!

One of the things I most remember about my mother was her love for her Savior.  And her love for God's Word.  Even in the later years of her life as her health was seriously declining, her Bible was always next to her on the bed.  She read it faithfully every day.  One of my treasured possessions is a set of index cards with Scripture verses - the verses she had memorized - written in her own hand, well-worn from use.

On this day that marks the anniversary of her passing, a particular passage of Scripture comes to mind that reminds me so very much of my mother.
"An excellent wife, who can find?  For her worth is far above jewels.  The heart of her husband trusts in her, and he will have no lack of gain........She rises while it is still night and gives food to her household.....She extends her hand to the poor and stretches out her hand to the needy......Strength and dignity are her clothing and she smiles at the future.  She opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.  She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.  Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also and her praises her."  (Proverbs 31).

Twelve years have passed since I watched my mother take her last breaths in this life.  And I miss her still more than words can say.

Today I remember the events of that day......October 30, 2000. But even more, I remember all the years prior to that day.  I remember her life more than I remember her death.  I am so grateful that God gave me this wonderful woman as my mother.  I am grateful for the godly example she set.  And I want to be just like her!

"Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD, she shall be praised."  (Proverbs 31:30 NASB)

A Lesson from a Football Player

One of my favorite things to do on a Saturday is to turn on the TV and watch some Gamecock football.  I have been a fan of University of South Carolina football since I was a little girl.  So, this past Saturday afternoon I was enjoying a good game between the Gamecocks and the University of Tennessee Volunteers.  At least until late in the second quarter, when Marcus Lattimore sustained a very serious injury. 

I don't know Marcus personally.  But people who do know him all speak very highly of him.  Marcus is well respected, not only for his talent on the football field, but even more for who he is off the field.  By all accounts, Marcus is an extremely talented athlete, but is also a very humble young man, a young man of integrity and great faith.  A young man who walks his talk......who lives out the Christianity he professes.

Marcus was recently elected a captain of the football team.  As captain, he spoke to the team prior to the game with Tennessee.  After a couple of tough weeks for the Gamecocks, he gave them some encouragement.  What he said to them is a good lesson for us all.  He said - and I'm paraphrasing - play every play as if it were the last one you'll ever play.

That's good advice. Certainly it's good advice if you're a football player.  But football is just a game.  That's hard to remember sometimes, isn't it?  Especially when week after week we see grown men being paid millions of dollars to play this game!  But football is just a game.  Life is for real.  And Marcus has given us good advice for life!

Yesterday the text for our Pastor's message was James 4:13-17 as we continued our journey through the Book of James.  James 4:14 begins this way......"yet you do not know what your life will be like tomorrow."

Certainly that was true for Marcus on Saturday.  I'm sure he didn't get up on Saturday expecting a season-ending injury on Saturday afternoon. 

But it's true for all of us, isn't it?  We don't know what life will be like tomorrow or the next day......or even later this day.  So we need to "play every play as if it were our last."  We need to live life in a way that matters.  We need not to put off what's important.  We need to be "all in".  We need to make our life count!  We need to give our best effort in everything we do!

What happened to Marcus on Saturday reinforces that lesson.  Football is just a game.  But life is real.  And we don't get a do-over.  So make it count.  That's the lesson from a very special young man on Saturday.

Best wishes, Marcus, for a speedy recovery!  And Happy 21st Birthday!

 

 

Only one life
So soon it will pass
Only what's done for Christ will last.......
So give to Jesus all your days
It's the only life that pays
When you recall
You have but one life.

 

(author unknown)