My mother passed away 27 years ago.
On Easter weekend, I helped give flowers to passing cars in the church parking lot. As one car drove up, a woman looked at me and said, “I used to work with your mother.”
She then said, “I enjoyed working with your mother, a wonderful woman.”
If your mother is still with you, please tell her three things today:
- “You are a wonderful Mom!” My mother prayed, she was generous, and her greatest gift to me was a foundation upon which to build my faith. Saying ‘you are wonderful’ isn’t trite, because it gives honor to whom honor is due.
- “I remember the time _____.” I would fill in the blank by saying, “… when you insisted that you and my father take your retirement to start what has now become Fellowship.” What do you most appreciate about your mother?
- “I love you!” There is a formula to saying that you love someone. Say something gracious about them like ‘you are wonderful’ and then something specific ‘how you gave to help me start a ministry’ and now when you say ‘I love you’ it has depth.
One final encouragement. Have a conversation with your mother soon. Pick a topic of interest to you, perhaps about something that she accomplished in her life. Write the conversation down, it is a gift for you and later for your children.
Knowing the history of our parents helps build righteous foundations.
My mother was a lieutenant in World War II. She once told me, that as an army nurse, she travelled to Europe and back ten times on the Queen Mary. She explained that the Queen Mary was used as a hospital ship bringing back wounded soldiers.
A photo of this ship in the header of this post shows one of the last trips of the Queen Mary. It was arriving in New York after World War II carrying both wounded and returning soldiers.
My mom could have been on this ship at the time of this photo. When she told me about her trips on the Queen Mary, I didn’t ask more questions. She rarely mentioned the topic.
I have a regret that I didn’t talk to her more about World War II.
Fortunately, the great promise of the Bible is that I will be able to continue my conversation with my mother about World War II when I see her in heaven.