Mother’s Day is coming up this Sunday, and I’m looking forward to sharing it with my mom and mother-in-law. My wife and I are fortunate to have these remarkable women in our lives. The truth is, they deserve much more than one day of gifts and cards to thank them for all they do.
They’re both fantastic chefs, have hosted too many holiday family gatherings to count and are a large part of why my wife and I continue to observe our Jewish faith. Both work in education—my mom as a college professor, my wife’s mom as a guidance counselor—and, in a way, act as mothers to more kids than just their own. Their abundance of love has served as an example to us.
In the past year, both of our mothers have faced challenges. My wife’s mother was struck with thyroid cancer. After surgery and lots of prayers, she’s been given a clean bill of health. For months, my mom has been suffering from fatigue that has sapped her energy and made it tough to balance all the things she does on a regular basis. Only recently did doctors discover the reason: mononucleosis. Now she’s getting rest and is on the road to recovery.
These health issues have forced my wife and me to face the scary reality that our mothers won’t be here with us forever. It’s tough to think about—for us and them. These are the women who brought us into this world, and even now as fully grown adults, we’ll never be ready to let them leave us.
Recently, I’ve been working on a story about a woman named Evangelina Garza, a 71-year-old mother of four and grandmother who lives in Mission, Texas. Evangelina’s story, about the day she (almost) died, is one for the ages… You’ll have to wait until our August/September issue to read all about it. But something Evangelina’s daughter told me struck a chord. A prayer she sent up to God while in the hospital, after doctors told by her that her mother would not recover: “God, please don’t take my mom. She’s our rock. The glue that binds us.”
Our rock. The glue that binds us. How many of us say that about our moms? They’re there not just for the kids, but for the entire family. That could certainly be said for my mom, for my mother-in-law too. Keeping together a family takes work, and our mothers make it look so effortless. They do it because they know they can’t control the world they brought us into. What they can do is create a home that will always be a place of comfort and safety. They remind us that no matter how scary the world may seem, or how overwhelming our responsibilities may be, there will always be a place to seek shelter from the storm.
One thing Mysterious Ways has shown me is that this mother’s gift doesn’t end with death. This week, in our Mysterious Ways newsletter, Lorrie McKinney of Benton Harbor, Michigan, shared one example of this. Lorrie’s mother literally created a space—a Goodwill store—that radiated love and warmth to its customers. After her mother passed away, Lorrie couldn’t face returning to that store—until a remarkable find made it clear her mother’s love was still there.
This is what good mothers do. They create a bubble in which we feel special, loved, protected; they construct it so well that nothing breaks it. The glue is just too strong.
Got a Mother’s Day story to share? How does your mom’s love continue to be your guide? Share your story with us.
