Mother's Day & Tapestries

Greetings,

This morning, in celebration of Mother's Day, several members of the congregation recorded short videos of things they learned from their mothers. As I listened to the legacies passed on from one generation to the next, I reflected on my own life. My mother died thirteen years ago and I miss her very much. My mother didn't have strong, mantras that reverberated through our lives. She was a strong Christian, but she lived it more than she spoke about it.

I was invited to include a video about what I learned from my mother this Sunday, but the thing that came to my mind first and seemed to get stuck in the forefront of my mind was "Always read a recipe all the way through to the end before you start to cook." Despite being sound advice, it just didn't compare to the things so many others mentioned this morning. As I struggled with the thoughts running through my mind, I knew I learned much more from my mother than that.

My mother prayed, quietly in her bedroom with the door shut. I didn't see it, but I know it happened. My mother studied her Bible because she taught Sunday School classes with adults who had genuine deep questions about spiritual matters. If she didn't know an answer, she researched until she had a satisfactory answer for her adult students. She taught children's programs so she knew how to explain things they could understand. My mother never claimed to be smart and even tried to claim the opposite. She felt educationally inferior to my father who had a Bachelor's degree and later a Master's. My mom went to college but never got a degree but she was still quite intelligent. My mother knew how to cook from scratch with or without a recipe and how to substitute ingredients when something came up short. She taught us about finances, relationships, even psychology. When my brother was little he kept cheating at a game. She played the game with him and watched him cheat repeatedly. She allowed him to get away with it. He finally reached a point where he got bored with the unjustified winning and he quit.

What does this have to do with tapestries? There was no one piece of advice, no one underlying theme that she preached or taught us aside from loving and serving the Lord. She taught the joy of singing the Lord's praises, but she never cried with joy, shouted, raised her hand, waved a hanky or ran the aisles. She taught me to speak loudly, clearly, and distinctly when speaking publicly. We were taught the importance of paying our tithe, giving of our time and talents for the Lord's work. She knew when we needed pep talks or metaphorical kicks in the seat of our pants. She gave us what we needed when we needed it. I have been woven together by the things she said, the things she didn't say, the things she did, the things she didn't do. The same is true for my father, but he'll just have to wait for Father's Day.

I got frustrated with Vol 7 of my book because there were so many plots and subplots going on simultaneously. I've been worried that it's too convoluted and busy. The point of my books is to point to God and give him glory. So many times in our lives God is working, weaving strong bold patterns into the fabric of our beings and balancing them with the more subtle complimentary colors and patterns. While he's working we may only see one little thing happening but beneath the surface, he's working an intricate, detailed splendor that we won't see the end result of in this lifetime. I got frustrated with my many plots and subplots, but God's subplots have subplots and he never loses track of a single thread.

Although my mother is gone from my life, her influence still weaves me into the person I am and the person I am growing into. As God continues to weave the tapestry that is me, the things my mother taught me are passed on to my children and now my grandchildren.

In these questionable times, God is weaving something awesome in our lives. I don't want things to go to what they were. I want to see what God is making. It's going to be awesome.

Love you,
Happy Mother's Day
Reggi