Today and Everyday

Though I am glad that a day is set aside to honor mother's I am quite sure that EVERYDAY should be Mother's Day.  I say this not because I am a mother but because I am a daughter who should honor her mother every day.

Mother's and their daughters often struggle with relationship issues depending on the age of the daughter.  As teenagers, daughters often feel as though they no longer need guidance or instruction because they have this whole "life" thing figured out. 

At that age we are often very disrespectful and offended when our mother offers guidance about our gal pals or especially our boy friends because----

#1-we know so much more than our much older mother

#2- we simply just know everything

and

#3- "THINGS HAVE CHANGED SINCE YOU WERE YOUNG AND YOU JUST DON'T UNDERSTAND THE WAY THINGS ARE NOW!!!!"

How very wrong I was................there were times I was convinced my little mother had been sent here to ensure that my life was miserable.......I rarely got away with ANYTHING because she "just had a feeling!"  UGH!!!!  HOW could she have known when I was up to something?  HOW?  Didn't matter how, she just knew. 

She knew when a guy wasn't right for me even when I would want him to be so badly........even girls that I was friends with...........she always knew who was friends with me and who was a friend  to me.  She even made one prediction that I was convinced I had proved her wrong about many years later but guess what.......she was right and I sadly was wrong. 

Mom has a quiet strength about her.  She doesn't share her disappointments or the things that breaks her heart.  Often I have been the cause I am sure, instead she just prays, and trusts, and believes that her God is big enough (and she is right to think so.) 

I think from the moment that I became a mom that God just opened my eyes.............completely.  What a responsibility to be a parent.  From that moment on and even now I am in awe of mom's sacrifices and ongoing selflessness for her family. I have felt remorse for all the grief I caused her over the years.  For the disrespect and rebellion.  I was such an ungrateful brat.   I can't come close to measuring up to my mom but I do realize that she is the example that I should try to follow.

My hope is to make my mother (and father) proud of who I am.  They don't measure my success by the amount of "things" I have in my life, the house I live in (as long as it is clean), the type of car I drive, the amount of money I make or any of these things. 

The only gift I can give you mom (and dad) is to try and live authentically.  To love God and have a relationship and fellowship with Him.  To show evidence of that relationship by how I treat my family, my friends, and my neighbors.  By being honest, and humble, and thankful, and giving, and kind............  By being a better parent everyday, a better sister, daughter, or friend.  By showing people how much they mean to me rather than just telling them or assuming they know.  By being bold and standing tall, and working hard, and never giving up.  By getting up when I get knocked down and saying I am sorry when I make a mistake. 

  Mom, I honor you today and every day..............and I honor your mother for her Godly example as well.....

I will never be able to thank you enough!