This Mother’s Day I awoke early, around 6:00am, much earlier than Mary Ann. As I often do on mornings when I wake before her, as I have done on thousands of mornings over these many years, I spent several minutes quietly watching her sleep and thinking how fortunate and blessed I am that this lovely and gentle woman consented to be my wife, that she freely chose to spend her life with me. Added to those thoughts this morning was an appreciation of how lucky is my son to have such a mother—a mother very much like my own whom I knew was still sleeping this morning many states away on the west coast. As I thought about the many things that define these two wonderful women, my wife and my mother, one thing kept passing through my mind—the words of the Apostle Paul who wrote so eloquently concerning love.
“Love is patient and kind. Love is neither jealous nor boastful, it is neither arrogant nor rude. Love does not demand it’s own way, nor does love harbor anger or resentment. Love finds no joy in unrighteousness, but rejoices in truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things and endures all things.” 1 Corinthians 13:4-7
How well the apostle captured the character of love. And how well, I thought, his words define these two women. I thank God for my wife and my mother. Happy Mother’s Day to them.
