MOTHER'S DAY

I think the most defining moment for a woman is becoming a mother and learning how to be a mother for the rest of her life. Most women become pregnant so easily, and maybe too easily. As young girls, they often become involved in exercising their rights to being sexually active without becoming a fully developed person, mentally, spiritually, emotionally and physically. Also, they are often propelled into motherhood without a solid foundation of learned life experiences to be able to raise a child with some measure of wisdom. Our news is full of stories of mothers who leave their children alone so that they can "go out" and other such reasons. How many of them just don't get caught and maybe the news article is just the tip of the iceberg? How many children have young mothers or older mothers making bad decisions, who are just not able to be a good mother and the children suffer all of their lives because of it?

Being a mother is a change that needs to be well thought out..."How To" info is just the beginning. All of us mothers learned as we went along, making some mistakes but also having many successes too. Babies are very forgiving as long as their basic needs are met...food, being dry, getting enough sleep in a nice cozy environment and lastly, the nurturing and "feel" of a loving parent holding them...usually the mother. Mothering skills become honed and developed over the passing of time as the child grows. God gives us children to teach us to give, to teach us to be patient and loving, and to make us aware of our own mortality. As all the members of the family grow older, you realize you can't go back and redo. You can only change today. and prepare for tomorrow. Being a mother is one of the hardest jobs and being a "good" mother is difficult in our times, I believe.

But God is faithful to help us be the best we can be as mothers, as wives, and as followers of Jesus Christ. I am thankful for the privilege of being the mother of Bill II and Beth. They are wonderful friends, loving, caring and forgiving. And they are followers of Jesus Christ, the most important decision they will ever make. I am not perfect and never will be in this life. But with God's grace, forgiveness and continued working in me, I can become more like Him while I am here.

My son took the time to go over to our condo to take some marvelous pictures of my tulips and grape hyacinths. The daffodils and some of the hyacinths are done but the tulips are very bright and showy. I would have missed seeing them and the photos are a great Mother's Day gift that I can enjoy over and over. Thank you son. Here are a few photos of the beautiful flowers. I wish I had room for all of them here.

Happy Mother's Day everyday!