Waste Not A Good Example

        a few treasures from my Mother's Day...hope you have some too...                         

                                  

I had a very frugal mother, or should I say resourceful. She knew how to turn a few, bland leftovers, into a delicious meal.
She could take a piece of fabric and sew a dress, that could be adjusted for five girls.
She mended and patched clothing others would have replaced.
I try to emulate this trait in my own way. it might be a slightly different format, but I could never discard the principle of her example.
My mother was an excellent example of knowing how to serve others with joy and unselfishness.
Yesterday at our Mother's Day service at church our speaker encouraged us to never undermine the power of small but mighty deeds and a good example.
He used the story of Timothy and how through the example of his mother and grandmother he went on to be a disciple of Jesus.


Sometimes it is easy to walk the path of regret or feel like effort is a waste of time....and we have nothing that can be used or valued....
  
 this song  talks about the broken and so called wasted parts of life and how Jesus can take it all and make it beautiful.

                                     


The perfect mother is an illusion. It does not exist. I am thankful that in God's eyes  accomplishments and  failures are the same,  and  both can  be turned into  beautiful works of art.


                           

       the card from my youngest....she added Three Things You Should Never Ask Your Mother.....1-say you're bored...(she'll find work for you) 
                           2-say you're hungry...(she'll give you something healthy)
                           3-say you're tired...(she'll say go to bed.)


and when you give her this card she will laugh:)) I love that crazy kid...:)



 I apoologize that this post may sound rather scattered;My mother's amazing example and my glaring imperfections mixed;somehow it came out like this... I guess that is the way love and life are at times...thank-you for grace!
                 
                                         

The Waving Mother

                                     


I am the waving mother,throughout my children's years
I wave here at my lighthouse post.
Smiling through my fears.


For when we begin this vigil; we don't know how the winds will blow
But we are rooted in God's grace
And He helps us to let go.

The waving Mother knows; her children will depart
That learning to let go in love
Is a tender, aching part.

I am the waving mother; on life's sea of endless waves.
Their constant buoyancy, cradles me,
And I learn to be brave.

So as life's waves around me; churn and crash and roll
I can laugh and enjoy life's voyage, because
As I wave, my hand holds the One that's in control.                   

I wrote this today,as it seems so fitting to my life at present...I watched my two oldest daughters leave this morning separately..(one for work,one to a youth event)as I drove my son to his youth event yesterday..we passed my oldest on the road coming home from work...waving seems to be etched into motherhood.....
I'm so thankful to have this opportunity....aren't you?

 
                                            

        (taken last summer...one daughter missing in action:)




        I never thought that you should be rewarded for the 
                   greatest privilege of life.
(Mary Roper Coker on being chosen mother of the year)


joining here... http://mockingbirdhillcottage.com/

Plant A Garden,Nurture A Soul

The other day I planted my vegetable  garden.
 I dug deep, and put down seeds.
The day offered near perfect weather. Sunny and not too windy. No racing against thunder clouds like last year. No small window of time to hurry this sacred opportunity. I had cleared my schedule for this important occasion.

No, I haven't planted everything yet...that would be presumptuous.For even though it feels like summer now, weather is unpredictable, and I've learned it is wise to wait for consistent warmth.
                                                                                                                     

I think it is appropriate that gardening and Mother's day intersect with one another.
For is their anything quite so synonymous with being a mother as gardening?
Both require much surrender to conditions and situations we can not see..
Both require faith beyond our own circumstance to believe that we can plant seeds, but we can not make them grow.

Gardens like children must be nurtured. Neglect is not an option,if we are truly passionate about the results.
Our fortitude will be tested on both fronts.
There really is so little we can control.
But when we live in each wonderful moment...
when we accept that this is a task that requires monumental grit, and resilience much greater than ourselves...
We can bask in the bittersweet journey of having, holding, loving and growing.
We can become stronger and more passionate individuals, as we release and relinquish to whatever the season holds.

                                                                                                    


As I unwound from the rigours of the day...I came across this documentary on gardening.... I'd likely watch it simply for his charming accent:) but I also found it FASCINATING to see the many kinds of gardens and know that
gardening is so much more than boundaries, culture or climate.....
I love what he says at the end of this clip...
Gardens are not about plants as much...they are about people....


The person who plants a garden feels that he has done something good for the world.C D Warner


The home gardener is part scientist,part artist,part philosopher,
part plowman. He modifies the climate around his home. J R Whiting

Short and Sweet for Moms.

       

Time is keeping it short and simple,
 but today I had a recollection of something my second daughter said when she was likely about three or four.
She said" I can't wait until I'm a Mom because than I can do
   what ever I want!!"
      (first made me laugh, then of course made me think....)


Aren't you glad you're a Mom and we get to do whatever we want?

                           Hope you have a day full of things you want to do!

   When you are a mother, you are never really alone in       your        thoughts. A mother always has to think twice,
               once for herself and once for her child. Sophia Loren

 real gratitude140,quilts on clothesline,141,thrumming of piano,142,listening to a child's prayers,143,clean toilet bowls,144,son's dedication to morning barn chores,,145,hosting  book study here,146,meeting new people,147, November is half over!148,a new thrift store close by,149,pilates,150,my family...so nice to have ten of us to help share the load when someone is in need.

Monday Mother's Day Musings

I dug way into the archives of 2005 for this picture.

It is one of the ones I hold "precious."

It was taken on my birthday which was also Easter that year.

I wrote this poem for this picture back then but it is still what I feel in my heart today,even though yes, the task is still daunting,and  disappointments are real,and parenting more challenging than I thought it could be,God is always good.

GIFTS...

Dear Lord, when I consider,all the blessings big and small

I truly think my children are the greatest gift of all.

I pray I will not ever ,take this job as trite,

For I know I'm shaping warriors,to live for you with might.

I pray that you will give me,wisdom for the task.

I know your hand will guide them,when I feel life's much too vast.

So Lord,I feel so privileged ,that you chose them for me;

Help me never take for granted,these precious gifts from thee.

Mother's Day 2012.

Dear Mom; I Understand Now....

                            
          I want to dedicate this post to my dear Mother :

                    A Garden Plot

A garden plot's a healing spot;
Just how I do not know,
But as I watched my mother work
Her eyes just told me so.
When she was troubled I could tell;
She'd take her spade and go
To her own private piece of earth
And dig it row by row;
And then she'd kneel and take the soil
To sift it here and there,
Talking softly as she worked-
Perhaps it was a prayer.
A garden plot's a healing spot;
I know the feel of sod
Was my dear mother's way to say,
"I've touched a bit of God."

           (June Masters Bacher)

ONE THOUGHT COMFORTS ME LIKE NO OTHER
WHEN I FEEL LIKE I'VE FAILED IN MY ROLE AS A MOTHER.
THE HOPE THAT THE LORD IN HIS GOODNESS WILL SEND
ANOTHER NEW DAY FOR MY ERRORS TO MEND.
And HE did..............

This is the day that the Lord has made,
Let us rejoice and be glad in it
Psalm118:24