Matthew 6:21, "Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be." (NLT)
Dear Friends,
The rain is falling softly, and I can hear it pinging gently on the tin porch roof. Tiny birds, perched under leaves are singing softly as the black and gray sky, falls away to daylight...As these moments unfold,..the earth is tilting and the sun is setting in someone elses world,....and yet...'my' sun is just beyond the rainy clouds.
It is Mothers' Day..and I am remembering my Mom. She is in Pennsylvania, while I live in Kentucky. I call her almost everyday. I haven't always done that. But, I do now...and it means so much to her.
I remember the first day I went home and noticed that she was older...
She seemed shorter and I was taller, her back was a little more hunched than I remembered, ...she didn't seem to catch my words like she once had. I found myself repeating and gently raising my voice so she could hear. She is now 78 years old. And she is a beauty...She still wears bright colors and looks amazing.
One time my niece Amy told her, "Mommer, I hope I get your genes when I get older"...and we all chuckled, my mom loved it...
About 3 weeks later, Amy was at home...Mom had sent her a care package of sorts, and included was a cute pair of jeans, that she no longer wore....( Mom had joined Curves, and the "jeans" no longer applied to her new figure, so she figured, why not send Amy those "genes' she has been hoping for)...We all loved it.
It seems that my mom has always been there, I remembering picking 'millions' of violets and presenting them as bouquets as soon as they were blooming in the spring on the farm where we grew up. I remember snowy mornings and cream of wheat simmering in bowls, the roar of the old yellow school bus roaring it's engines across the country hillsides, giggling and singing into the fan on hot e summer days and waking up early, and getting dressed under the blankets in the winter in our old and dear farmhouse...
...when my dad died suddenly in a car accident when I was 18 ( I had been in college, less than a week)...my mom, with strength beyond what my years could understand, encouraged me to continue what had begun, even if it meant leaving Pennsylvania and heading back to Tennessee, to the very place she and my dad had left me several days before.
Four years later...I graduated.
I still look back and admire my mom for having the strength to encourage me.
These are just a few of many memories, that are remembered with a fondness in my heart.
I know we all have memories,...some of us carry bravely forward with out our parents or children..
In many ways we are all broken, and sometimes we struggle over our brokenness. I remember the struggles and tears too.
But, I also know that just like the rain falling outside my window. It's up to me to remember that in the well trodden soil of our lives, sunshine + rain = Flowers.
We can choose daily where we allow our minds to dwell. For me, I'd rather remember the laughter, sprinkled with tears.
The sun will shine again and the flowers are blooming somewhere.
Trust me.....I'll go find them if I have to..
Will you?
Love, Sally Ann
p.s. Capture the violets, give them to your mom, or find someone who is alone and share your love with them..The violets might be a visit, a long overdue letter, a phone call or a warm hug.
John 15:12b, "Love each other in the same way I have loved you." (NLT)
Philippians 4: 8,9
Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure,
whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, if anything is excellent or praiseworthy, think about such things.
Whatever you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me, put it into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.
This is so heart touching, bless you.
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