Happy Mother’s Day

“Honor your father and mother. Then you will live a long, full life in the land the Lord your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12 (New Living Translation)

Everyone who’s ever stepped foot in a church has heard this passage. This is a part of the Ten Commandments God gave to the Israelites after their deliverance from slavery in Egypt. It is a commandment, but with a promise attached: honor = long life.

The flowers pictured above are those I’m expecting from my son tomorrow. As his grandma was fond of saying “a day late and a dollar short”, but I’m happy as long as I get my flowers on this side of the dirt when I can still smell them. It was quite a bizarre thing that happened really. I’m not in the habit of “guilting” my son into sending me anything for Mother’s Day or even spending time with me. Sometimes, since he lives in a different time zone from me, we will Duo and watch a movie together as we plan to do today. For some reason I saw these flowers on 1-800 Flowers and sent him a text with the picture stating “these are pretty”. Coincidentally, he had been looking at this same arrangement to send me, and he is still in disbelief today that we were looking at the same flowers. He didn’t want to send me the standard colors, which is fine with me — I’m not a standard girl. And I reminded him that purple was his grandmother’s favorite color which only blew his mind even further. He is struggling with believing in the same God that I do, but he saw this as maybe a divine intervention and it seems to have opened a door somewhere for him to consider further. I don’t receive many material things from my son, other than at Christmas, but I feel the love every time he texts me unexpectedly to see how I’m doing and spends time watching a movie with me. We even have some deep conversations every once in a while. I feel he honors me in subtle ways, and I expect that he will have a long life just as God has promised.

I had the privilege of being raised and nurtured by three generations of “mothers” as did my son. I lost my great grandmother, who raised me in the church, in 1980 at the age of 85. My grandmother (his great nana), who mentored me socially, passed in 1995 at the age of 76. And last but not least my mother (his grandma), who gave me her street savvy, maintained our family history, and protected me in ways that weren’t necessarily scriptural, left us in 2016, also at the age of 76. Each of them provided a foundation for my growth into who I am today.

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 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, and the disciple whom He loved standing by, He said to His mother, “Woman, behold your son!” ²⁷ Then He said to the disciple, “Behold your mother!” And from that hour that disciple took her to his own home. John 19:26-27 (New King James Version)

Sadly, in the United States, we don’t honor and respect the wisdom of our elders as in other societies. We lock many of them away in nursing homes and leave them there to deteriorate and die. I realize everyone does not have the luxury of welcoming them in their home, but whatever you must do or wherever they live, embrace them and give them your life flow and thus fill them with joy.

For many years, I did not grasp the meaning of this passage. I thought Jesus in his final breaths was telling his mother to see what condition her son was in and what he was sacrificing for her and the world. But as I re-read this passage, I have come to see that Jesus was “purchasing” (if you will) a “life insurance policy” for his mother. He was giving her into the charge and protection of his disciple so that she would be well cared for until her time should come. I pray that each of you who reads these words will do one positive thing for your mother today, even if it’s only a phone call.