Happy Mother’s Day to the Sisterhood!

And that is YOU even if you’ve never borne down in the battle cry of birth or not! Of course, I honor my own precious mother today because if it weren’t for her – I wouldn’t be and neither would these children and grandchildren of mine. The best of me came from her. I thank God for that precious saint that I’ll throw my arms around one day and thank her again and again for giving me -- ME!

I believe that all of us are called to mother another – whether we call it mothering or not. We mother because we’re called to it. We are the ones who reach out to a struggling sister, child, college student, teenager, grandmother or couple. We mother the one who shows up at our doorstep to hear a positive word that she can make it one more day of home-schooling her children. We mother whether we’re married or not, and have a slew of kids or not.

We mother because we can’t not mother. We can't help ourselves, because there is a friend who has been hurt and needs a soft, safe place to land. We mother because we’ve watched our mothers make TLC soup for the sick. We mother because the older woman at the mall locked her keys in her car and we call for help for her and we wait and encourage her until help comes (true story). Because, we mother.

We love with genuine affection in our hearts. We delight in honoring each other. We give ourselves away — little bits and pieces of who we are, of our courage, of our deep faith, of our hope and peace. We bear down and we find ways to bring life to people desperate for air. Because it’s what we do – we mother.

Every single woman who loves, sacrifices, encourages, tends, cares, raises, praises, shapes, forms, nurtures, and cheers on others, no matter how you came to be connected with them, is doing an amazing, mothering work. And today -- as we celebrate our earthly (or heavenly) mothers, we celebrate you, too.

I honor you, believe in you and champion you! Happy Mother’s Day to my Sisterhood! Thank you for all you are and all you do!

“Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” (Romans 12:10)

Thanks for the Memories, Kenny!

So what’s a girl to do on a day when she hears that a dear friend has passed away – especially when she’s in quarantine because of the C-virus? And, when she gets many text messages from friends and family who offer her condolences. She remembers. And, she recalls the love she shared with her lover listening to this man's love songs. SHE recommends that you lovers out there listen to those songs while you're in quarantine!

Last Friday, Kenny Rogers passed away. As a devoted fan of his for so many years, I couldn’t help but shed some big old crocodile tears as I let my mind go back to his many concerts that my husband and I attended. We felt like we knew him personally because his songs were so much a part of our lives. Any time he was within a couple of hours distance from us, we’d make sure we were at his concert.

I’m strong, resilient, determined and I live life to its fullest. I don’t often spend time just reminiscing the past. Looking in the rearview mirror and dwelling there gets us no place. But there are times when it’s okay to remember. I did that on Sunday after I had watched, via livestream, two church services and two masses – all four giving me so much gratitude and deeper love for my Lord. I took notes and journaled what I heard.

Then I called five friends to check on them and to spread some love and encouragement. But once I cozied down in my chair, I listened to some of our Kenny Rogers’ favorites: “She Believes in Me”, “Lady”, “You Decorated My Life” and our absolute favorite in our later years: “Through the Years”. I had me some big old melt down as I remembered my sweetheart’s arms around me and holding hands and looking into each other’s eyes as we heard those songs.

I remembered, when living in Canada, us following Kenny’s entourage to Morden, Manitoba. A white limousine led the way for several white Cadillacs. We had a white Cadillac, so we felt welcomed to follow right in line with them and into the private parking area as the guard waved us through. Kenny and his entourage walked in through the stage doors. We owned it and made our way in with them and into the best seats in the house. Kenny always said from the stage: “Lady, why do you have binoculars when you’re sitting on the front row?” That wasn’t me, because it wasn’t the man we admired as much as we did his songs and his beautiful vibrato voice.

True love didn’t quit through life’s ups and downs.“Through the Years” spoke volumes about two determined people willing to never give up. That song described us perfectly!

To love and be loved is life's sweetest treasure. But even more than the earthly love we enjoy, the most beloved relationship we could ever hope to have, is our relationship with God. What a beautiful romance I have had with Him through the years. He yearns to share a life of beauty, intimacy, and adventure with us. He says:“I have loved you with an everlasting love”. (Jeremiah 31:3) This world was made for romance -- the rivers, the meadows, the mountains and the beaches. Flowers, music, a kiss, a sunrise, a sunset, a touch.

Shhh! I hear Him singing a love song to me: "The LORD your God among you is powerful -- He will save and He will take joyful delight in you. In His love He will renew you with His love; He will celebrate with singing because of you". Zephaniah 3:17

Perhaps, as a jealous God for our affection, one of the reasons for the incubation and isolation we’re experiencing right now, is because He wants us to turn our attention to Him. We’ve got the time and we’re in just the right place to do that today!

The Chapters of My Love Story

The first chapter of my love story began when I was a little girl seeing the adoring love that my mom and dad had for each other. I witnessed their sweet affection for each other. In fact, my dad couldn’t keep his hands off my mom. “Roscoe, QUIT!” she’d cry out when he was waaay too affectionate in public for her very prim and proper ways. They were my first example of true love. I think that’s why I’m a hugger today! Be forewarned!

The next love chapter was the love of my boyfriend who became my precious husband a few years later. What a wild and crazy adventure we took on by marrying when we hardly knew anything about life, but we kept practicing and before long, we had learned many trial-and-error lessons. Actually, we never did stop learning about life and each other.

Then, turn the pages to the love chapter of starting our family -- 3 months into marriage. Love took on a whole new meaning when it produced our most treasured possessions – our two beloved children. We hardly knew how to take care of ourselves, never mind two children. I apologized to them many times for my mistakes along the way. In remorse, I'd say: “Please forgive me! I’m new at this!”

We wrote many chapters in our many years that followed: the right things to do to show love; things NOT to do that takes love tokens out of our “love” bank; setting a good love example for others to follow, and loving each other for better or worse, richer or poorer, in sickness and health until death parted us.

I began a new love chapter yesterday when I witnessed God's love in human form. As I arrived at Children’s Hospital for my volunteer work, this precious, beaming boy, in for new x-rays, came to me with this Valentine. I teared up as I told his mom that she was doing such a great job in guiding her boy into being kind to others. A radiologist came by and loved on me with words and action. My sweet girl took me for lunch and gave me these beautiful yellow roses. She knows her daddy and my love story so well. Our wedding included yellow roses and we have had yellow rose bushes planted at every home we’ve lived in. Later at home, my doorbell rang and this gorgeous floral arrangement, that could easily fit at the front of a church, arrived from my son with words “You will always be my first sweetheart!”

I love to give love, and I’ve learned to receive love. I’ve learned that compassion sowed, is compassion reaped; kindness given is kindness received. Through God's great LOVE example of the gift of His Son to us, you and I can be that someone to someone else. We are chips off the ole' block -- and our BLOCK gave to us BIG TIME. Yesterday I was the recipient of God’s love through others. Tomorrow, I plan on planting love and compassion and kindness – not to receive, but to give. I assure you, however, God just can’t help Himself. When He sees His kids taking after Him, He just pours it on for us even more. Every chapter of my love story is interweaved with God’s great love for me. BTW -- yours is too!

Kisses -- Sweeter Than Wine

“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth — for your love is more delightful than wine.” How’s that for a Valentine’s Day opener? Sounds like something out of a romance novel, doesn’t it? It is way more. It is straight from God’s Holy Word, the Song of Solomon 1:2. God intended us to know romance so He showed us love in all dimensions – from Solomon’s wife’s love for her husband to His unrelenting love in giving His own Son’s sacrifice of love for us.

But what happens to that first love and those times of longing for being together and not being able to keep our eyes and our thoughts off of each other? Complacency happens. The fire we had at first becomes a flicker. We've lost our "first love".

Of course, today, I think of my first “puppy” love story. He was all of 13 years old and I was 12. It was a “by telephone” courtship. Eventually, we were strategizing for our first kiss. The only time we saw each other was at the church his dad pastored on an occasional Sunday night. On the phone, he asked, “When can I kiss you?" Me, being shy and senseless of romance in any way gave little input, but he already had a plan of action. “How about after church next Sunday night, behind the church?" Oh, my! I couldn’t sleep or think straight, especially when Sunday night came. After service, we headed outside to the darkness in the back of the church. He took me in his arms, threw me back like an old movie scene and planted a big one on my lips while his breath mint slipped into my mouth as we almost lost our balance. We heard his dad call out for us and, he ran one way around to the front of the church and I ran the other way. We were proud of our inconspicuous scheme. ;-)

That led to many years of loving to kiss, holding hands, and snuggling close – until the day of his graduation to heaven. I know that after many years in a relationship, the fire of first love tends to grow dim. I’d like you to think that our marriage was all marital bliss, but there were many times it faltered. It happens in marriage, and it happens in our relationship with God. In Revelation 2:1-7, John the Apostle wrote to the Ephesian church that had been faithful and hardworking, but he warned them to “remember their first love for God".

In the middle of this Valentine’s Day when love is up front and center, and whether we’re single or married, we are wise to go back to our first loves -- with our spouses AND our first love with Jesus. We can return to those first words of love and affection, service and obedience, amazement and appreciation. Oh, that we would still hunger and thirst again to be in God’s presence like we couldn’t get enough of our sweethearts in the beginning – when we were first in love. We can lose the passion and fervor in our marriages and in the same way, for God. We can accept the status quo and let the fires that once intensely burned, die.

Believe me, now that my sweetheart is up there and not here, I’ve thought about the times I was too busy or preoccupied or uninterested in my husband’s affection. My sweet married friends, don’t lose that first love for each other. Cherish your moments together. Rekindle your first love. Go on dates and remember what it felt like in the beginning. And, the same is true for rekindling our first love and our relationship with God.
May we remember how God went the distance to restore us, redeem our life and for being our forever love.
Happy Valentine’s Day!