Recently I was driving my daughter home from a piano lesson when we passed by a church with a marquee sign out front. It’s message read, ”Things I Learned From My Mother.” I assumed with the following Sunday being Mother’s Day, this was the message title for the pastor’s sermon. Detective Clouseau has nothing on me.
As we passed by the sign I asked Laura, “What have you learned from me?” She didn’t miss a beat and responded, “That stripes and plaids don’t go together.” (The humor she gets from me.) We both laughed, because it was funny, but later that night, as I tucked her into bed, I brought it up again. I said, “Surely I’ve taught you more than how to put an outfit together, right?” (Not that it’s not valuable information to know.) In her best eye-rolling voice she said, “Yes, mom”, but I decided to do just a quick review to make sure. I reminded her that, among other things, I have taught her to be a good friend, to love animals, and to care about those less fortunate. I have taught her that God walks with her each day, and that He loves her even when she screws up. “I know, I know”, she said.
Why did I need to do that? Was it to make sure that I had not screwed up? My kids are still becoming the people they will be as adults so I have years left to screw that up. Not that I am trying to, but you worry about those things as a mom. My mom still worries about it. She’s forever telling me she wished she had been more this or less that. Now, my brother and I are in our forties with families of our own. If she did mess up with anything, I am pretty sure the statute of limitations has already expired on it. Yet in my humble opinion, I think she did a wonderful job.
Motherhood is a wonderfully exhausting, beautifully stressful, gloriously challenging walk of faith. No one knows perseverance like a mother. As my own mom tells me, it’s a job you never retire from. And to steal a line from the Army, it’s the hardest job I’ve ever loved.