This coming Monday, it will be only 8 weeks since Mom went to be with the Lord. The emptiness she left behind is still overwhelming and now it's Mother's Day. To honor her on this first Mother's Day without her here with me, I am sharing a devotion that I was allowed to do for her church's Mother-Daughter Banquet a few years ago. These thoughts were shared then and again now to give a glimpse into the tremendous character and strength Momma had - and the most humbling part is that she never thought of herself this way, she just lived it!
My Momma "Walked the Walk" ... her life was real. She never understood that she was in so many ways larger than life to us kids, nor could she imagine the enormity of the loss I feel now.
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"Mother from her Daughter's Perspective."
My heritage goes back to my Great-Grandmother Beatrice Dorton. Those of us in her family had the privilege of knowing her gentle ways and her devotion to the Lord. She not only talked the talk, she walked the walk!
And "Walking the Walk" is really what is most important - because we can say many things and put on a good front, but our day to day living - our walking and living daily in our homes and workplaces - says more about who and what we really are.
My mother - Audella Evans - is the most God-ly person I know. Now, I don't say that because she is my Mom! I say that because I have never known anyone to be as loving, giving, and nurturing as she is.
I grew up in the "dark ages" before computers and computer games! So Mom taught me how to play jack-rocks and hop-scotch, to color the flowers on table napkins, and to make paper chains for party decoration. She taught me how to cook, to sew, to clean house, how to do ceramics, how to arrange flowers. But there are a lot of other things she taught me, not by her words but by her actions:
1. Mom did not tell me to be faithful to my husband, she showed me by living faithfully with my father thru good times and bad, for over 30 years, right up to the day he died.
2. She did not tell me to honor my father and mother, she showed me by putting her life on hold, going to West Virginia and caring for the day-to-day needs of my Grandmother, until my Grandmother died.
3. She did not tell me to be put other first, she showed me by always taking the back piece of the fried chicken so us kids could have the good pieces.
4. She did not tell me to be honest, she showed me by giving the cashier back money when she was given more than she was due.
5. She did not tell me to be a good neighbor, she showed me by caring for an elderly neighbor, without pay, for almost 2 years until the lady died.
6. She did not tell me to be concerned about others, she showed me by taking hot soup and home-made bread to a hurting wife whose husband was dying of cancer.
7. She did not tell me that listening was more important than talking, she shows me by always letting me "dump" on her when I needed to vent about a my situations and problems.
8. She did not tell me prayer is important, she shows me by interceding to God for me every day and for every thing.
9. She does not just tell me that she loves me, she shows me by always being there -
listening to me when I'm angry,
comforting me when I'm hurt,
and loving me unconditionally even when
I'm unlovable.
You see, our Walk talks louder than our Talk talks. To put it in scriptural terms,
Deut. 6:7 says "And thou shalt teach them [them being the precepts of God] diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up."
This means that in our day-to-day lives, we are to show forth the truths of God's word and the love shown to us in Jesus. I have seen this lived out and I am truly blessed with a rich heritage.
Shared in love,
Chris
