Profile of a mother-one week early

Before the days of email, people used to “clip and file.” People would share clippings with me that would possibly be helpful in sermon preparation. I’m grateful that some still cut poems or stories out of newspapers and magazines and bring them to me. In my “Mother’s Day” file, I found this “clipping” authored by Rex R. Burns:

“A mother appears to be a normal human being. She has all the physical features that all people have - two eyes, two hands, two arms, two feet - all connected to one body. That is what you see if you look at the exterior of a mother.

“If your were ever a child, you will know that she has at least three sets of eyes - two in front, two in back, so that she can see all those things she must see but that are hidden from her, and one on each side of her head so she can protect the cookie jar, no matter where stands in the kitchen. All are capable of seeing through wood and plaster so she can tell what is going on behind closed doors.

“She has bionic ears. She can hear a dirty word whispered a block away. She can hear a complaint that is only thought when unpleasant tasks are assigned to her kids. With her many arms and hands she can prepare a meal, find a shirt, change a diaper and run the vacuum, all at the same time!

“With strong, fast legs, she can move about the house like a speeding bullet. She patrols the streets, stops a fight in the backyard, catches a tennis ball before it is flushed down the toilet, prevents a child from falling out of a tree, and moves all the toys out of the driveway before Dad comes home, all at the same time.

“Her endless supply of energy can only be a God-given attribute. She is first to rise in the morning, has breakfast ready for the “brood” as they get up, gets each child ready for school, is both barber and beautician, fashion consultant, chairman, budget director, purchasing agent, paramedic, mechanic, veterinarian, interpreter, travel agent, interior decorator, and is the last to bed at night.

“With a tender kiss, she can heal everything form a cut finger to a broken heart. With her kiss, she can convince a balding 50-year-old man that he is just as handsome as he ever was!

“Her ability to love is exceeded only by God’s love itself. Her love grows with her children and it is impossible to tell the success or failure of her children by her love.

“There are no depths to which a child can fall that will diminish her love and no heights of success a child can achieve that will increase it. Her love is protective, tender, consistent, understanding, forgiving, unchanging.

“The nearest thing we can see in this world to God’s love is a mother’s love.”

Some of the above may be somewhat dated, but one statement is still as relevant today as whenever this essay was written. A mother’s love makes a tremendous impact, and may be the closest representation of God’s love that we can experience on this earth.

Someone wrote, “The love of a mother is never exhausted, it never tires. It endures through all, in good repute, in bad repute. In the face of the world’s condemnation, a mother’s love still lives on.”

As George Washington said, “All I am I owe to my mother.” Thank you, God, for loving mothers who give of themselves to their families so exhaustingly and willingly.

Thank you, mothers, for your love, sacrifice, and encouragement. We honor you on this Mother’s Day.