May.07.04: Light for the Day - "WHO IS MOTHER?" -- Proverbs 23:22 "Listen to you father; without him you would not exit. When your mother is old, show her your appreciation." ----------------  "M-O-M" M-O-M spelled backwards is still M-O-M. For Mom is always Mom is always Mom. She never gets too turned around to be Though she gets busy as a bee.  ---------------- "WHO IS MOTHER?" Mother is half of the Father/Mother team, the one who gave birth to you as a child. When she first held you in her arms, she fell madly in love with you!  She is the one that changed your diaper, gave you your bottle, bathed and dressed you. She is the one who tended to you when you were sick, wishes she could have bore your pain, but unable to even share it with you. There is none like a Mother.  If you have children, then you know what it's like to be a Mother. Often, it's a tough job, with unruly children, and many heartaches before they are grown. Sometimes a Mother is lucky that she has well- disciplined children, but only because she has done her best in order for them to be well-adjusted teenagers and later adults.  Mostly, Mother sits and worries that she hasn't done her best with her children, especially if they don't turn out as she thought they should, with all the training she had given them.  Mother is a human being, capable of making mistakes. She is not perfect, just as none of us are perfect. But she is the one that we picture as being perfect during our childhood.  As we become older, we realize that Mothers are capable of right and wrong ways of doing things, missing the mark, just as much as the next person. But she is still Mother.  The thing that sets her apart is her everlasting love for her children and her intent that they lead normal, well-adjusted lives.  Not until we become adults, do we really begin to appreciate WHO Mother really is. She has nurtured you through your childhood, put up with your sassy ways and times of being lazy during your teenage years, and cried through your becoming an adult.  But Mother was always there to encourage you when you made a mistake, although sometimes it's hard not to show disappointment {I am sure I've done that}.  As we grow older and have our own children, we realize that Mother was a very strong person, and we begin to wonder can we ever fit into her shoes. No, we wear our 'own shoes'........ we can never do things the same as our Mother, although she has given us the pattern from which to build.  IF we have a Godly Mother {I did!}, then we can bring up our children in the ways of God, so that when they grow older we have the assurance that some day they will live for God. After all, Proverbs 22:6 says "Train up a child in the ways he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it."  Mothers are special.  Is your Mother living today? If so, try to make this Mother's Day the most wonderful day of her life! Show her you care if only by telling her you love her. Take her out to eat, take her flowers, but show up on Mother's Day, if possible.  You will never know how much this helps Mother to realize her family still cares. Sometimes we get busy doing the usual things in life, and lose sight of the most important aspects - loving our family. And Mother happens to be where that 'family' began. Without Mother, there would never have been a family. You might also tell Daddy that you are so happy that he chose Mother to be his wife. Make his eyes light up as well!! M - Messenger, relaying God's Word O - Outpouring of genuine Love T - Trusts in God H - Heart set on things above E - Earthly saint R - Rescuer of the Wayward  -- Barbara Sanders ------------------- In the quiet of the night I watch you sleep. As I tuck you in and savor the gentle sounds. I glance through the window and whisper out loud. God, have I been the Mother You wanted me to be. Have I held my children up and taught them to see. Have I shown them that love should always be shared. Have I taught them compassion and reasons to care. Have I explained the values by which You want us to live. Have I taught them humility and reasons to give. Have I shown them that life can't always be fair. Have I taught them that You will always be there. As I glance through the window You help me to see That I am being the best Mother that I can possibly be. -- Christine M. Newcomer  ---------------------------- Our children are a gift from God On loan from heaven above, To train and nourish in the Lord And show to them His love. -- Sper -------------- Thank You For Being There - Thank You for Love.  Thank You for telling of God up above.  Thanks for the diapers, the washing, the folding, The changing, repinings and all of the Holding - The Rocking, the Singing, the Healing, the Smile - The endurance it took to cope all the while,  With so many children, so many... you know - I think I'd have quit not continued to go On with the Caring, the Loving, the Giving, The unceasing frustrations of everyday living With all of your children...  The cooking, the cleaning, the sewing and work.  Honor is due You for You did not shirk.  You did not cease and You did not run.  You did not give up as I might have done.  And so - For those Hours, those Days, All those Years  I Thank You Dear Mother... Forgive me the Tears, The Heartaches, and All, The Anger, the Rudeness, The Big and the Small.  May Mother's Day find Your Heart Full to the brim With Peace, Joy, and Love. May nothing seem grim.  God Bless You Mother...  May your heart know how Dear - You are to me Now and each day of the year...  -- M.Garren Orig.1981 (for Betty Morgan. Beloved Mother of ten children) ----------------- "A Mothers Cross" A Mothers Cross in borne forever Upon her shoulders lovingly. No matter what, it never leaves her. She'll never opt to lay it down. Her broken heart is never minded, Her worry and her restless nights Are part of Mothers Loving Nature To give unselfishly in life. She listens to the smallest whimper, She'll sacrifice to meet each need, She'll do without, it never matters; For in her there is never greed. A Mothers Cross is borne forever, She'll never opt to lay it down; But when she's taken up to Heaven, Her Loving Cross becomes A Crown. -- Mary Bennett ---------------- "Mother" She has been God's laborer to keep me safe and sound She has kept me in sight, calmed my fears in the night She has argued and fought, She has paid and she's bought. She's been sick and she's been feeble Never mean, yet sometimes disagreeable. She's given love like there's no tomorrow If she didn't have enough, she would have borrowed. There is nothing I could ever do to repay Except do God's work, and hope and pray. ... I hope she will one day see how close I wish her and I to be. And let her know there will be no other She'll always be my beloved Mother. -- David L. Kriss ----------------- -- 2 Timothy 3:15 "And you remember that ever since you were a child, you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. -- Exodus 20:12  "Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which the LORD your God gives you." -- Proverbs 23:25  "Let your father and mother be glad, let her who bore you rejoice."