I Rise Up And Call My Mother Blessed

I have pondered this week about Mother's Day....

What do I preach?

I reminded the kids they have a Mom and don't forget her....

Tracie and I went and bought a gift for our mothers....

I took Tracie yesterday and bought her a new outfit for Mother's Day....

I think she is saving it for Trent's wedding rehearsal....

Does this mean I need to go and buy another one for Sunday?

All of this has been fun....

But my thoughts have been this morning of my mother....

My mother was never a flashy lady....

She was more the silent behind the scenes type...

She held my dad together forever....

She held us kids together too....

Don't mess with Mama....

I remember the time I was in an apartment I was not supposed to be in and Mom was looking for me....

I thought the coast was clear and stepped out to go home just as Mom rounded the corner...

She spanked me all the way home!

Don't mess with Mama....

I remember the...

Many services she sat on an organ and gave her best....

The many chicken dinners she prepared and sold to pay for churches....

The prayerful voice that always echoed in the church while Dad was preaching....

The many "Bless him Jesus, Bless him Lord's" while I was learning to preach...

Mom was no flatterer....

Rather, she lived on a much more practical side of life....

Never a better business head sat upon a woman.....

Mom infected Dad with her Midas Touch....

Mom had a hard time with people she perceived to be fake or shallow....

I inherited this....

I also inherited her slow temper but its long burn after it is finally ignited.....

Mom brought five kids into this world...

Held them with a firm hand...

And sent them all into the world to take care of themselves...

They are all in the ministry today...

Burned into my memory......

Are those many meals....

Those trips to the laundromat when Dad pastored the worst church in the history of Pentecost.....

The time I came in the house and Mom was washing my blue jeans by hand and had scrubbed until her knuckles were bleeding....

Mom taking all our food down the street to the town drunks family and leaving us with nothing and while I worried about this my Memaw showing up with a carload of food.....

She never complained....

To this day I have yet to hear a regret for a single sacrifice....

And God has more than blessed her for what she gave...

Today she is a blessed woman....

With financial security....

And when she goes to Camp Meeting she has one or all of her preacher kids there with her....

Her grown grandchildren are all in pursuit of the same love of ministry she instilled in her children....

My mother is a blessed woman....

Today....

I, her eldest.......

Rise up and call her blessed....

I love you Mom.....

Kent