My mother, Dolly Dorey, is probably the greatest example of selfless love that I have ever known. She worked very hard to raise five boys and a girl. Her days often started well before ours and often didn't end until well after we were all sound asleep. There were times when the money didn't go far enough and the extras weren't plentiful but there were always healthy, wholesome meals on our table, clean clothes in our closests and a sense of well-being in our home.
Mom very seldom just sat and did nothing. Occasionally she would watch a TV show with us or participate in a game of Scrabble. Sometimes she would escape to another world through a good book but usually she had housework that needed to be done. Her love for us was demonstrated through the care that she gave to our needs.
I discovered that the place to get my mom's attention was in the kitchen. That was her "office" and much wisdom and nurturing was dispensed at the kitchen table while I ate the cookies that she was baking.
Mom was also a major spiritual influence in our home. She instructed, encouraged and even guilted us toward God. Her life has always been a testimony to the love she has for Christ. She desires for her own children the same relationship she has with her heavenly Father.
It is interesting to me that the characteristics that I admire in my mother are also the traits that I see in my wife, Ruth. Her selfless attitude for our family often plays itself out in the same way as it did in my childhood home. My invitation to sit down and relax is greeted by that phrase repeated by mothers worldwide, "The works not going to get done by itself, now is it."
Our son Shane has learned that when it is a sympathetic ear he needs - he goes to mom. I'll usually tell him to "suck-it-up" or "shake-it off" while Ruth will tell him "I understand - I'm sorry that you're hurting". But in offering the listening ear, I have observed that Ruth also has the opportunities to speak spiritual truth into Shane's life that I sometimes miss.
So, on this Mother's Day I am thankful for the two mothers that God has placed in my life. Both are unique but in some respects they are quite similar. I love you both very much!
"Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all." Proverbs 31:28,29
