It has been said that being a mother is a blessing, a gift, a relationship that never ends and a love that never dies. What a powerful description of a mother! How many times has your mother done so many wonderful things for you, yet you failed to tell or show her thanks? Have you ever promised that you were going to visit your mother, and that promise dragged to fruition? Do you continually disrespect your mother? Have you shown ungratefulness by expecting her to continue to do things that she is unable to do? What a real mother does for her children cannot be measured, counted, or repaid, but it certainly can be appreciated. Mothers don’t do things for their children, expecting anything in return, but they deserve to be shown love and appreciation while they live. Proverbs 31:28-30 (NIV) affirms, “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” Therefore, give your mother “her flowers” while she lives. In other words, she cannot “smell the flowers” that you bring to her grave. Showing your mother love and appreciation doesn’t always have to be materialistic. For instance, take her on a long ride in the country, with the windows rolled down so that she can smell the fresh air. Call her just to say, “I love you…” Sing her favorite song to her. Polish her fingernails with her favorite color, one of the last things I did for my mother before she went home to be with the Lord. This brief anonymously written illustration drives home my article’s main idea. “A man stopped at a flower shop to order some flowers to be wired to his mother who lived two hundred miles away. As he got out of his car, he noticed a young girl sitting on the curb sobbing. He asked her what was wrong and she replied, ‘I wanted to buy a red rose for my mother. But I only have seventy-five cents, and a rose costs two dollars.’
“The man smiled and said, ‘Come on in with me. I’ll buy you a rose.’ He bought the little girl her rose and ordered his own mother’s flowers. As they were leaving, he offered the girl a ride home.
“She said, ‘Yes, please! You can take me to my mother.’ She directed him to a cemetery, where she placed the rose on a freshly dug grave. The man returned to the flower shop, canceled the wire order, picked up a bouquet, and drove the two hundred miles to his mother’s house.” Happy Blessed Mother’s Day to all mothers and mothers-to-be!
