Things I Wish Mom Told Me

Mother’s Day is only a few days away.  While I celebrate the Mother that my wife, Ann, is and the mothers that 3 of our daughters are and the host of other mothers I have encountered through the years,  there is a hollowness this and every Mother’s Day for me knowing that my own Mother has gone on to her eternal rest.   My Mom (as I called her)  died in August,2001.

There are many folks that have regrets about things that did not say or do after someone they loved dies.   They wish they had done this or said that.  Often, it seems to hang around their necks weighing them down as they swim in the river of their life.  I have had no regrets about what I said or did after my Mom died.  I had the chance to visit with her the day before she died.   I talked to her only hours before she died.   My final words to her in that phone call were:  “I love you, Mom.”    I am grateful for those memories.

What I do regret and miss are the things that Mom told me.   When my birthday rolled around every year,  she would tell me again the story about how she spent 7 months of her pregnancy with me in bed and that the doctors had told her that I would probably be born dead or deformed.    That story reminded me how much I was wanted and how precious my life was.    I miss hearing Mom tell me that  she loved me. While those words were often said when we said our goodbyes over the phone or in person, they were said with sincerity and not uttered lightly.     These are the things I miss most of all that Mom told me.  There are many others.   And yet, I know that Mom was only an instrument to mirror what Someone tells me every day of my life.   Every day, God tells me that I am wanted and precious and I am loved.   All I have to do is look within me, around me, and look in that book called the Bible.   As Mothers Day comes again, if you have a Mom or mother figure still living tell her and show her that you love her and how precious she is.   You never know when it might be the last time to do that.    Have a joy-filled week.-  Pastor Randy Wall

Prayer:  New every day, O God, you tell us and show us how loved and precious in your sight we are.   Thank you for your love, and thank you for the people you place in our lives you use as messengers of your love;  through Christ our Lord.  Amen.