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There is no one like a mother.
Whether she gave birth
and life to us or if we came
alive in her heart, she has a
special place in our hearts. It
is unfortunate that we have to
grow up to realize how special she is and how much she
means to us. In retrospect, we
can see her love and all the
sacrifices she made for her
family when we were under her
wings and we were so self-absorbed with the many changes
that were taking place in our lives as we grew and matured.
What we didn’t know was that she
was growing too. Mothers
don’t come ready-made. They
learn from their mistakes and
bad judgment calls, but somehow
we felt she should always know
just what we needed, how and
when; and of course
catering to our whims and desires without making
mistakes or displeasing us.
That’s why a mother’s love is so
much like God’s. She knew
what was needed and only wanted what was best for us.
She had to make decisions that
we disapproved of and
even rebelled against. That is
how God looks after us.
He knows what we need and wants
the very best life
can give us, and all He asks is
that we trust Him.
God had given us many examples
in His Word of mothers that were
models for their children. It
was not a mistake or accident
that our mother was given to us.
God knew what He was doing. He
has also given us many “other
mothers” who have guided our
lives with their prayers,
friendship and mentoring.
Ruth was a Moabitess who had
married the son of Naomi
when Naomi’s family took refuge
in her homeland during
a severe famine in Israel. While
living in the foreign land,
Naomi lost both her sons and her husband and was left
with her two daughters-in-law.
The evidence is very
strong that Naomi had been “like
a mother” to her sons’
wives. When Naomi decided to return home after the famine,
she planned to leave the in-laws
behind in their own native land.
One did agree to stay, but not Ruth. She had formed such an attachment to
her mother-in-law that she
insisted on returning
to a land that would be foreign
to her, Israel, with Naomi.
She adapted herself to the ways
of Naomi’s life and
chose to follow her God. From
then on, Naomi was
“like a mother” to her (Ruth 1, 2).
Moses was born in a dangerous
time for babies. Pharaoh
had decreed that all Jewish boy
babies be killed as soon as
they were born. His mother made provisions for him to be
hidden for three months, but as he grew she had to develop
a better plan to save his life. She hid him in a waterproof
ark in the bulrushes of the
river. It was there that the
daughter of Pharaoh found him
and adopted him as her own and
became
“like a mother” to him. In God’s
providential plan, He
arranged for Moses’ own mother
to be his wet nurse
and nanny. After he was weaned
and began to grow, he
was returned to Pharaoh’s palace where he received all
the advantages of being the son of Pharaoh’s daughter.
She was “like a mother” to him as God prepared him
for the monumental task that lay
ahead of him to set
the Hebrew slaves free (Exodus
2).
Though I was blessed with a
loving, godly mother, God has
wonderfully blessed me with other godly women who have
been “like a mother” to me. I
have spent much time honoring
my mother on my Heart 2 Heart website and on our Adams
Family website. I don’t take
anything away from that by
honoring others who have been
“like a mother” to me.
One of my “other mothers” is a
life-long friend, Myrtle Lee
Venters.
We have been friends since I was
about five years old and
she was pregnant with her first
child. We lived upstairs in
a duplex, and she and her
husband lived downstairs. This
woman who was “like a mother” talked to a little girl,
who probably made a pest of herself with her many visits,
as a friend. She never “talked
down” to me, but our
conversations were one-on-one as two people who loved
each other. My earliest memories of her are frying potatoes.
She had a small cast iron
“pot-bellied” coal stove with
a flat top. She would scrub the
top; we would peel potatoes
and “fry” them on the top. She would let me turn them
as they browned. Such a simple
act, but it left me with
pleasant memories.
At this
writing, she is in her eighties,
going on
50! Her mind is sharp, her wit
is quick and her smile is
infectious when I walk in her door. She told someone not long
ago, that we had been friends all these years and had never
had harsh words; and it is true. I lived across the road from
her when my husband and I moved
back to Kentucky leaving
my parents in Michigan, so she
just assumed a role “like
a mother” in my own mother’s
absence that continues. Her
deep faith is contagious and inspiring. She has been dubbed
“the Pope of her family.” I am
sure the folks at her
Burdine FreeWill Baptist Church feel the same way.
Another of these women was my
aunt, my dad’s sister,
Wilma Adams Crase.
When my husband was killed
suddenly in an occupational
accident and left me a young widow, she became one of my
“other mothers.” My own parents
lived in Michigan and I lived in
Kentucky, so we had to limit our
contacts to frequent phone
calls, letters and vacation
times. But Aunt Wilma lived in
the same
town as I and filled in for my
absent mother. Not many
Sundays passed that she didn’t
have me at her home for lunch
after church, on holidays and just-no-reason days. She never
pushed me to “get over it” but had an ever listening ear and compassionate
heart whenever I needed it. She
was “just
there.” Their youngest daughter,
Linda, was left legally blind
after a brain tumor as a young child. They had a very loving
and special relationship. The family was active in the First Baptist
Church and their faith was lived
out in their daily lives. After
her husband’s death and Linda’s,
Aunt Wilma moved to Lexington
and she has since left us too to
join her husband and Linda.
I miss her!
A very special friend who was
“like a mother” was a co-worker,
Charlcia V. Smith Taylor.
I met Charlica when I began
working for the Board of
Education here in Jenkins. She
was one of the most beloved
teachers in the system, and she loved each of her third graders.
She had no children of her own, so her students got the
benefit of her motherly instincts. Eventually, she was asked
to assume the position of instructional supervisor which threw us together
in the superintendent’s office.
That was the beginning
of a very special relationship
for me with Charlcia and her
husband, Charles. They had a pet
name for each other, and it was
“Sweetie” for both of them. I have never known a couple
whom the moniker of “Sweetie”
fit better than those two.
Charlcia and I had the pleasure of attending many education
meetings out of town together and our friendship only grew stronger. After
the death of my husband, Charles
and Charlcia took me under their
wings. They had not married
until they were in their late
twenties and she had not yet learned to cook, so they learned
together; but Charles did most of the cooking. I can’t recall
how many times I received a
phone call from Charles to
come up and have breakfast with them, and many other meals. Periodically,
Charlcia would invite me to go
with her to Virginia
to a steak house, just the two
of us; and we would catch up
on each other’s news. We shared many things, personal
and spiritual. She was a devoted Methodist and I Church
of God, but we had common ground
in Christ. She was not
only a friend but “like a mother” as well. She and Charles
have left us too, and I miss them very much.
This by no means exhausts my list of those who are and have
been “like a mother” to me, and
I salute all of them.
As we honor our mothers, paying
them the highest esteem, let us
not forget the beautiful women
God has placed in our lives
who have been “like a mother” to us
Thank God for Mothers!!—those
who gave us life and/or
reared us. Thank God for those women who are “like a
mother” to us! Let all of them
know how much you
appreciate them.
Delores Adams
April 4, 2005
Copyrighted. All rights
reserved.
More about Mothers--Click
Below
A Test of Love
Alice's Legacy
Remembering Alice
The
"Handkerchief" has been anointed
and prayed over by
several believers who care about
you and want to help you
realize your full potential in
Christ Jesus Our Lord.
~The
Ten Commandments~
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