Happy Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day! I can't think of a better opportunity than this to tell you about my mother?

I have a hard time talking about my mom to any great extent without getting emotional. It's because I love her so much. God was very gracious to me when He selected my parents. My mom is a prime example.

Mom and I have always enjoyed a special relationship. She has always been willing to discuss anything at all with me. I could ask her questions about the Bible or questions about sex and expect answers with equal candor. She never seemed to berate me for my questions when other moms might have. And she never withheld answers like other moms might have. You know the ones. "Why don't you ask your father?" I never got that from my mom unless she actually didn't know the answer. And that wasn't very often.

My mother is quite unique. Generally speaking, women tend to be more emotional and men more logical. (I did say "generally speaking", didn't I?) One of the really obvious places to see this phenomenon is in church. More women go to church than men. More women are excited about church than men. The only difficulty with this is that women tend to not think as deeply as men on the topic of spiritual things. They might be excited. They might be knowledgeable. But digging deep doesn't seem to be a priority. (Again, for any female I may be on the verge of insulting, I know that there are exceptions and I did say "generally speaking".) My mother is an exception, and a wonderful one at that. No one is more "in love" with God than she is. I mean that in the purely worldly sense. She has all the emotions of love toward God that one would expect and hope for. She can't make it through a good worship time in church without pulling out a tissue to dab at tearful eyes. God just moves her. But she has equal depth. She enjoys digging into the Scriptures. "What does that mean?" "How does that work with this?" And she knows her Scripture. So like a "logical male", she is busy figuring things out, tossing contradictions and weaving an intricate truth structure that fits all the scenarios. While many people base their beliefs on how they feel and stand firm despite any evidence to the contrary, she will change what she believes when she is given a perspective that demands it. It provides a great deal of ground for my mom and I to have lengthy and very pleasurable theological discussions. This is one major aspect of our "special relationship" I mentioned before.

Mom shares a deep concern that I have for discipleship. As far back as I can recall, she has been mentoring younger women. She has involved herself in their lives for years and years. She has taught them the Scriptures, modeled for them what she believes, and given them even the hard principles. Teaching someone to seek to be happy at all cost is easy. She has taught them to seek to be everything that God wants them to be, even if it means doing things that are less than pleasurable. Indeed, the greatest advocate of wives submitting to husbands that I have ever known is my mother. While so many today are questioning it, she looks at it, scratches her head, and says, "Well, that's what it clearly says. How can anyone question it?" Today she is mentoring my youngest sister and a friend of hers. That might seem a little odd to some people, but it is grounds for admiration and gratitude from my perspective.

I don't know. As it turns out, as I think of my mom, I don't really have the tools to tell you how much I appreciate her, how much I respect her, or how much I love her. My wife is the only woman in this world that has greater love from me. My mom tells me about how she hasn't yet arrived at perfection. I suspect she knows whereof she speaks ... but those of us out here have a hard time seeing it. Given her history (which I won't go into here), her upbringing, her experiences, she is a stunning model of God at work in a person, a picture of sanctification. When I wonder "What does sanctification look like?", I have only to look at her and see an fine example.

I am grateful for my mother. I hope for all the best for her today and every day. I doubt that any son has a better mom than I do. I thank my God for her in my prayers.