[1]
After an elementary teacher gave a science lesson on magnets, she gave her students a quiz to see how much they had learned. One of the questions read, "My name starts with 'M.' I have six letters and I pick up things. What am I?" Half the class answered with the six-letter word "Mother."
Thank goodness God made mothers because mothers not only pick up things, they pick us up. Who is the first person you think about when you fall down and go boom? Chances are it is your mother.
God had a great idea when He invented mothers. I have the old fashion kind of mom. She still thinks that the kitchen is for something other than resale value. The breakfast I had was a little like heaven — biscuits, cream gravy, bacon, and sausage — a cholesterol feast. It was wonderful.
Mom cooked from scratch and made clothes from scratch. Now, there were some unpleasant times in my childhood. I guess everyone has his or her dysfunction. Mine is from the times Mom made me go to Clothworld, or Clothbarn, or City of Cloth. These stores were always off by themselves with no place to go or run to — just mom and me in Cloth Hell. I felt so feminine. I hung around the mailbox. It was the only masculine thing there. It was traumatic. I've since joined a group called Adult Children of Seamstress Anonymous, and am actually two steps away from walking through Clothworld without wetting my pants.
Moms are different now. They don't have as much time to spend with their children. It starts early. They only get one night in a hospital to have a baby. Now I know what HMO stands for "Hurry Mothers Out." I guess moms have to work harder than ever.
[2]We know evolution isn't true, otherwise why do mothers still only have two hands and politicians only one mouth?
Being a mother is tough. You know you're a mother when you understand everything the family dog says, or when you have a reoccurring dream that you are the agitator of the washing machine and you're off balance. You know you're a mother when one of your top fears is that there will be carpooling in heaven, or when you think Barney is a real person.
And of course kids get into as much trouble as ever. One kid said his mother said a prayer for him every night. She prayed, "Thank God he's in bed."
I heard about a mom who had finished a backbreaking job of stripping the kitchen floor and re-waxing it for Christmas. She heard her husband say, "Kids, your mother has worked hard on this floor, see how nice and clean it looks? I want you to be careful because any of you who spill anything on the floor has to clean it up first, go to the spare room, close the door, and stay there by yourself for an hour." The mother heard this, spilt coffee on the floor, cleaned it up, ran to the room, and no one saw her for an hour.
Motherhood is filled with frustration, difficulty, and challenges — but eventually they move out.
Life isn't as scary with a mom around. Just ask the first grade boy who strutted in front of his classmates and proclaimed, "When I grow up, I'm going to be a lion tamer. I'll have lots of fierce lions and when I walk in the cage, they will roar." He paused a moment and looked at his classmates' faces and then added, "Of course, I'll have my mother with me."
There is just something about having your mom with you. If life is like a grueling race, then time with mom is like a pit stop. It is a time of refreshment. Even my girls, who have babies of their own, still call home — it's evident they just need their mom. The race is hard and they need a pit stop. When I fly through Dallas I like to stop at Mom's and just spend a little time, have a great breakfast, and even take her to Clothworld.
A little boy in the Easter play was fortunate enough to have the part of Jesus. One of his lines was, "I am the light of the world," but when he got to that part, he forgot it. All of a sudden, here comes Mom to the rescue. You know how mothers are — she got up out of her seat and went to the front so she could prompt him. He looked at his mother and she mouthed the words, "I am the light of the world." He smiled at his mother, turned to the audience and said, "My mother is the light of the world."
Mothers may not be the light of the world but they definitely brighten it up — probably because they reflect so much of God's love.