“My mother… she is beautiful, softened at the edges and tempered with a spine of steel. I want to grow old and be like her.”
― Jodi Picoult

My mother went to be with the Lord on October 5, 2005.
I was planting yellow mums when the call came ~ to get to the hospital immediately. I knew what it meant; I rushed there as quickly as possible, knowing I might be too late to say goodbye. And I was. How could this be? She’d been steadily improving, and I’d been told to stay home, get some things done at the house ~ visit her later in the day to plan for hospice care. It was a yellow mum day I’ll never forget. A day I cried a million tears.

They say that a mother’s heart is the child’s school room. Our school room was filled with unconditional love. And my mother was quite the teacher, especially when it came to the things of the Lord.
She taught us by example ~ with a gentle spirit, a kind voice, and a heart for God. She had a serenity about her that I’ve seen in few; it was her confidence in the Lord that shaped that serenity. Her gentle spirit made our home loving, sweet and inviting, even though our family had its share of dysfunction.

The lessons she taught were these:
1.) Love God and serve Him unconditionally.
2.) Love others and serve them unconditionally.

She loved her family and she loved the Lord. Our dad didn’t attend church, but she made sure we were there every single week. Not just on Sunday morning, either. I grew up knowing the Lord Jesus Christ from an early age because mother loved like Jesus.

She accepted people as they were. She had no unreasonable expectations of anyone; she never gossiped, she never criticized. She never once complained, even when lung cancer viciously attacked her body. She didn’t know the meaning of self pity, selfishness, jealousy, pettiness. She lived a quiet life of service to her family and to God. She was the kind of mom that everyone probably dreams of ~ and all children deserve.

So today I honor her. I miss her.
I pray that somehow I can live up to the teaching of her school room. I know that on October 5, 2005, when she walked through heaven’s gate, the Lord rejoiced to say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” “Well done, dear Mother.”

“Once upon a memory
Someone wiped away a tear,
Held me close and loved me ~
Thank you, Mother dear.”