A Step in the Write Direction
May 12,
2014
Update: Since today is Mother’s
Day and this blog uses that theme, I’ll go ahead and send it out today instead
of waiting until Monday. I’m sure this day has mixed emotions for you. You may
still have your mom, but not the relationship you wish you had. Or your mom is
gone and this day brings sadness. Instead of
Writer’s Tips this week, I’m including a story about my mom who passed away in
1982 at the young age of 69. (If you’re a mom and haven’t had a physical checkup
lately, get it! I’d still have my mom if she had gone to the doctor when she
knew what it was.) Happy Mother’s Day to all of you out there, and prayers for
those who never had the privilege of being a mother, but who reached out in love
to other children who needed it!
Thought for Today: I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me.
They have clung to me all my life (Abraham Lincoln).
Song for
Today:
When
I was but a little child, how well I recollect
How I would grieve my mother with my folly and neglect;
And now that she has gone to Heav’n I miss her tender care:
O Savior, tell my mother I’ll be there!
Tell Mother I’ll be there, in answer to her prayer;
This message, blessed Savior, to her bear!
Tell mother I’ll be there, Heav’n’s joys with her to share;
Yes, tell my darling mother I’ll be there.
How I would grieve my mother with my folly and neglect;
And now that she has gone to Heav’n I miss her tender care:
O Savior, tell my mother I’ll be there!
Tell Mother I’ll be there, in answer to her prayer;
This message, blessed Savior, to her bear!
Tell mother I’ll be there, Heav’n’s joys with her to share;
Yes, tell my darling mother I’ll be there.
—Charles M.
Fillmore, 1898
Laugh for Today: A mother mouse and a baby mouse are walking along when
suddenly a cat attacks them. The mother mouse shouts “BARK!” and the cat runs
away. “See?” the mother mouse says to her baby. “Now do you see why it’s
important to learn a foreign language?”
Writer’s Tips:
My Heritage
One of my earliest recollections is of Mother
getting my two brothers, my sister, and me—the youngest—ready for church every
Sunday morning and walking over a mile to the country bus
stop.
Sunday meant a day in town. After our morning
church service, we would go to a small restaurant for "dinner," then upstairs
over the restaurant to a mission for an afternoon meeting. Sunday night found us
back in our own church for the evening service. Mother never subscribed to the
theory that if children are made to go to church when they're young, they won't
want to go when they're older.
When I was seven years old we moved into town.
Ours was the "Kool-Aid" house on the block. All the neighbor children were
welcome to join our family activities: singing around the piano, experimenting
with an erector set, putting jigsaw puzzles together, and answering questions
out of a quiz book. At the end of the evening, my mother always offered cocoa or
popcorn.
I remember when Mother sold that house. From the
proceeds, she bought my two brothers horns, and I received the accordion I had
wanted for so long. Wanting her children to be musical, she took in ironings to
pay my brothers' five-dollar band fee each semester.
My mother was a woman of prayer. One night our
cupboards were empty and my mother did the only thing she knew to do—pray.
Within an hour, a friend came by with some money she had owed my mother for
babysitting from several years before. It had just "come to her mind" that
evening. She was going to bring it by the next day, but something urged her,
"No, take it tonight." She arrived before the grocery store
closed.
Her prayers also extended to her children. She
constantly warned me about dating someone outside our faith, and I remember
coming home one night from a date and finding her asleep on her
knees.
Mother was "Mom" to a lot of other children and
teens who felt they could talk with her about their problems. When I was
younger, I was jealous of sharing her attention, but as I grew older, I was
proud of having a mother my friends liked.
It wasn't long before the family circle grew
smaller. The three older children married, and I moved to another state where I
met a seminary student and we became engaged.
On the day of my wedding, as Mother helped me
button my long white gown, she expressed disappointment that she could not buy
me an expensive gift. But I told her then, and many times afterward, she gave me
the finest gift a daughter could ask for—the heritage of a Christian
mother.
Have a good week spreading
the
gospel through
the printed page.
Donna Clark
Goodrich
dgood648@aol.com
www.thewritersfriend.net
http://donna-goodrich.blogspot.com
"The Freedom of Letting Go"
"Motivational Moments--100-Plus Devotionals for Writers and Speakers"
(bought up remaining inventory; half price)
"Healing in God's Time"
"Preparing Your Heart for Christmas"
"Ohio Cookbook"
"Michigan Cookbook"
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