Honor thy Mother

Honor thy father and thy mother... Exodus 20:2

In December, I posted an entry about honoring my dad on his 72nd birthday. This Saturday, my mom will turn 71, so I want to spend this entry honoring her. Some of you might think she wouldn't want me mentioning her age, but you don't know mom! She wears her years as a badge of honor...plus the fact that she truly doesn't look or act 71! She is the consummate Proverbs 31 woman...but more about that later~

So, now I share the top ten things I've learned from my mom (although don't necessarily possess!)... again 10-2 are in random order, not in order of importance.

10. Life isn't always fair! This is one of a couple of mantras that I recall hearing over the years and have become anchors to living for me. Mom detected early on that I was about "fairness" and knew the reality of life would kick me in the tail if I didn't get clued in that it just isn't fair.

9. Submission Now, Mom would probably think she's failed me in this area (because of my headstrong ways!), but I have come to truly appreciate my mom's ability to submit...even when she may have had the better idea in a matter. She would defer to Dad for leading the family and I learned to watch how she was truly a strong support force for my dad. They are a team and divide and conquer was NEVER allowed!

8. Loyalty Mom is loyal to a fault and I wish I were more like her in this area. When she believes in a person, ideal, whatever, she is loyal when everyone else would give up on it! She personifies the title to the song "Stand by your Man". She has been my dad's greatest advocate. As she says, she can correct her family or comment on their character deficits, but no one else can!

7. Great insight into people's character There are two people on this planet that I go to for insight into a person... my mom being one of them. She has what I would consider a God given ability to read people that is completely lost on me. I can't count of the times that I have thought a person was way too cool, only to have Mom caution me. And she is pretty much always right about them.

6. I learned the gift of being a hostess. I learned early in life about how to treat a guest. Mom has a gift for making people feel at home and welcome. She isn't pretentious or gauche...she just Harriet. That makes people warm to her. I hope and pray the when people come to my home that they are refreshed. I want my home to be a refuge for hurting people. Thanks to the training by my Mom, I may accomplish that.

5. Respect for Dad This has been one of the defining lessons that has made me really respect my mom. Long before she was well versed in Scripture, my mom had consistently shown my dad the utmost respect and grew that in her children as well. This isn't to say she was docile or non-opinionated about issues, but she dealt with my dad in a way that trained us about the Ephesians 5 principle of wives behavior towards their husbands. It wasn't until I had the opportunity to teach this passage to the college women that it hit me full force that Mom had quietly trained us. The old adage is correct: more it caught than taught! If you are a Mom, you will give your children a most valuable life lesson by doing this for their dad. My prayer is that I will successfully continue this practice with my husband someday.

4. It's okay to be a strong woman. Honestly, I haven't really appreciated Mom's version of strength until the past 10 years or so... I needed to mature! I could usually be found not liking the "1950's" way my Mom seemed to be. Actually, she puts the so-called 'libbers' to shame. She exudes the perfect strength...one that is under control and within the boundaries of Scripture. She has told me that she is as independent as she chooses to be. How incredibly wise! She knows where her True Strength lies. That's the kind of strong woman I covet to be.

3. His Grace is Sufficient I saw this truth come to life in my Mom during a particularly difficult period within our family. My Dad's business experienced a situation of financial fraud by an employee and it was a devastating blow to the financial health of his small company. When I learned of the event and all it entailed, I vividly recall my Mom telling me that during an intense time of prayer and seeking the Lord, He told her, My Grace is Sufficient. She clung to that promise from Scripture with all of her loyal might. God did a mighty work in her faith through that situation. All the while, building mine for future difficulties that I would face.

2. Laughter Again, as I said in Dad's piece, you can't be in the Ewing house without laughing. While Dad's sense of humor is more sarcastic, Mom is more goofy funny. I don't mean that disrespectful, it's just Mom finds humor in the everyday. She and my brother can look at a situation and put their unique spin on it and I find myself in stitches.

and the #1 lesson I learned from Mom was:

To know Jesus deeper Mom has always been keenly interested in learning as much about the Lord as she possibly can. To this day, we will have some awesomely intense discussions about what the Lord has shown us in our reading, or what we learned from a message we've heard. It wasn't always this easy. I remember times of her listening to WDLM and I would rail against having to listen to it, coping an attitude about the music. It wasn't the music I despised... it was the conviction of the Word on my then unsaved soul that I hated. I have witnessed the power of Scripture to change lives through the changes He's made in her over the years. She's authentic and, as she will tell you, a work in progress. In reading the Proverbs 31 woman, I truly believe she is one and pray that I too will achieve being like her some day.

Thank you Lord for such a great Mom!