Mother's Day

    In the United States, the second Sunday in May has been, for a number of years, set aside as a day to honor mothers. While this is a special time for us to be able to remember our mothers, this should not be the only time of the year that we remember them. For some of us all we have are precious memories of our mother. Other still have their mothers that they can call or visit while the younger ones among us are still living at home with their parents. The following are placed here in the bulletin today to remind us of mothers and how important they are in our lives.
A Tribute to Mother
    Being a mother is a mission, a calling, a profession given to the first woman along with her name. "Mother" means different things to different people; and who they are and what they look like changes in our minds as we pass milestones in our life. The following are thumbnail sketches of different periods of motherhood:
    MOTHER is a young, vivacious girl. She can hardly be more than 20 years old, perhaps less. She is wide-eyed with marvel at the squirming bundle of softness in her arms.
    MOTHER is a sort of middle-aged, nondescript lady whose anatomical proportions have undergone slight rearrangements in the two or three decades since she held her first child. She is watching teary eyed as her own children marry. She is wondering if she was ever so young, so naive, so inexperienced. Good ol' steady, dependable Mom.
    MOTHER is that beautiful gray headed lady who doesn't walk so well any more. She is a bit stooped. She hears a little less distinctly, sees a bit more dimly and forgets a lot more easily; but all the grandkids think that she is the greatest and don't all the kids still say; no one cooks like mom? And Dad - well, he thought he loved her 45 years ago when they got married, but the truth is he hardly had any idea what love was all about. Now he knows love as only a select few in this world have been privileged to know.
    MOTHER is that delicate little lady with the frail body living out the last days of her life under the tender care of her children and grandchildren. The hands of the clock have turned full cycle. As she served her mother before, now it is her turn to be served. Her hair is thin and white; her body is no longer able to perform the tasks her mind commands. It is then, or so it seems, that our God of love and mercy steps in and creates a special world for mother. Whatever else she may achieve in this world, regardless of what other profession she may have pursued, nothing so honors her or ties her so dearly to our hearts as the simple fact that she is mother!
-- Author Unknown
- via the Belvedere Beacon, the weekly bulletin of the Belvedere Church of Christ, Belvedere, SC.  Ken Chumbley preaches for this congregation, and he may be contacted at their website: http://www.belvederechurchofchrist.org