Mothers
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Do You Have the Faith of the Centurion?
Christians often use the functionality of a chair as one of their analogies about faith. Our faith is that the chair will hold us up when we sit in it. The thought is that without faith that a chair will do what it’s supposed to do, we would never sit down. That’s a fair analogy. After all, every day we sit down in various chairs throughout the day. But the analogy is also flawed if what we’re trying to show is an example of having faith in God. What happens when you have the faith for that chair to hold you, so you walk over and sit in it. And…
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Don’t Blink
Caught in lashes, that act as temporary gates. Unwilling to be more. Unable to resist. The blink.
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Into the Arms of the Lord
A friend and former colleague off mine texted me on yesterday (Tuesday) and said that they were calling hospice for her mom. I was out and about, and missed the first text by about an hour. This Wednesday morning, a second text alerted me that she had passed away earlier in the morning. “Mom slipped quietly into the arms of the Lord early this morning. She is at peace.” I knew her mother lived back in her hometown, about an hour from where my friend lived. She was elderly and had been battling dementia for many years. My friend’s sister had been the primary caretaker since their dad passed away…
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The Secrets Our Journals Keep
I picked up one of my old journals today for the purpose of looking for something specific that I’d written over 10 years ago. I’ve hung on to every journal notebook I’ve filled, perhaps as far back as high school, though their locations vary. I wish I’d been better organized all those years ago, and included a table of content, of sorts, so I’d remember what was in which journal. One of my nieces recently turned me on to something called “bullet journaling,” which I’m going to try with the next new journal I pick up. But this morning, as I continue work on my book, Was looking for something…
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O Jerusalem, Jerusalem!
On this day, May 21, 2005, I buried my mother. I was in Israel when she passed away in the hospital following developing a poorly treated bed sore that got infected; the poisons overtaking my mother’s already weak body. It took me three days our time (12 hours ahead) before I could get back to South Carolina. No matter how many years pass, my heart still aches, not just that she died, but also how she died; and maybe even when; the when she died. I still struggle with all of that. It interferes with my ability to move past that part of my grief. I know I’m not alone.…
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Israel — The Holy Land
I made the decision to leave my cell phone at home. It was just that a “phone,” and I didn’t want to pay the extra money required during those days, to have my service switch for international. It’s so much easier and cheaper no. During my recent trip to China, I didn’t have to pay anything for texting services, and very little to make a call. But those days, May 2005, the costs was higher, and the introduction of the smart phone was still over two years away. And I knew if there was an emergency, there would be others on the trip with their phones. So when we landed…
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Another Mother’s Day
As I sit in a coffee house today, working on this blog post, I’ll admit it’s one I’ve struggled with writing. Today is Mother’s Day and the world is celebrating. It’s nice that we put aside one day a month to focus on our moms; but mothers should be celebrated everyday. Or at least every week. But I know that I’m not alone in having mixed emotions about today’s celebration. I have many friends who have lost their mothers. The loneliness of their absence is still raw for most. And having a month with the never-ending advertisements constantly showing the happy families of adult children surprise visiting their moms, and…
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My Last Mother’s Day
The official Mother’s Day holiday, as is celebrated in the United States, originally came through the efforts of a woman name Anna Jarvis. She conceived of the holiday following her mother’s death in 1905, as a way of honoring the sacrifices mothers made for their children. In 1908 she organized a huge Mother’s Day celebration at her church, and four years later, established the Mother’s Day International Association, designed to help promote her efforts to make Mother’s Day a national observance. It wasn’t until 1914 that President Woodrow Wilson signed a measure officially establishing the second Sunday in May as Mother’s Day. Anna Jarvis’ mother, Ann Reeves Jarvis, died on…
