This Mother’s Day has to be my most special one to date…yes, after 25 years of being a mother!
You ask what made it so special?
One thing is that it provided me with some thoughts to share with you this week!
I will let you in on a few “secrets” of my routine lately for sharing a writing a week with you. By Sunday night I like to have a rough draft pretty well set so that Monday night I can review it and then send to my editor for proofing/feedback. That way I can spend Monday and Tuesday nights revising, coming up with the pictures and Bible verse so it is ready for publishing late Tuesday night and sharing Wednesday afternoons via social media.
I had a few ideas floating around in my head for what to share this week but did not feel like I had enough time to really process them yet, so Sunday morning, Mother’s Day, receiving a handwritten card from my youngest son, it hit me what to share with you this week! 🙂 I am learning to trust the Lord more and not panic….His timing is always perfect!
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So here goes….
I was opening the mail late Saturday night and was confused to see something in an official, colored envelope that contained my oldest son’s address typed out in a window type envelope as the return address and then my name/address and some type of long number in the recipient part.
Much to my surprise, it ended up being a Mother’s Day present…an Outback gift card! It was a pleasant surprise as it was really the first “gift” my oldest son gave me. “Gifts” has never been a top contender of the five love languages for me so we never promoted that much when my kids were younger.
Seeing that my oldest has only been working, moving out of state and on his own for a year now and trying to save money, this act really touched my heart. Here is a picture of what the card said. 🙂
I showed it to my youngest son who was home that night.
On Mother’s Day my second surprise was that my youngest son was up about 8:30 am (which is early for him on a weekend!). I heard noise coming from the kitchen so when I came out it looked like he was preparing his usual “big teen” breakfast. I went back to the bedroom to lay down for a few more minutes and then he told me my presence was requested in the kitchen. Much to my surprise, he made ME this breakfast feast, which is his usual weekend food!
It was too funny that the day before I told him, “I wish I could eat what you do!” Since I am not a growing teen who does not workout quite with the intensity he can, I can not eat like he does! 🙁 My daily breakfast consists of a little egg white!
Here is a picture of the breakfast that I ate throughout the day. 🙂 I ate one strip of the wheat bread with natural peanut butter and banana, as I don’t usually eat bread anymore, and my son ate the rest of that. I love how he even took the lid off my water bottle because that is how HE drinks all his water for whatever reason!
The ultimate growing teen, hardcore workout breakfast!
As I started eating, I read the card that he wrote….yes, it touched me and brought me to tears. 😉 That was the most special part of breakfast for sure!
SIDE NOTE: It is a running joke in our family about the “favorite child.” Actually, I find it great that they both think they are the favorite child! 🙂 My daughter always says, “she’s the angel!” My younger son put it because of seeing it on the present I received from my oldest son the day before. 🙂
I could not help but tell him how much it meant and gave him a big hug. It was probably a year ago that for the first time this son told me that he never said before how much he appreciates me, loves me, and needs to tell me those things more often. When he first said that he also gave me a nice, firm, bear hug that lasted a bit. I learned that day what a wonderful, strong embrace he has.
From that day forward, that is exactly what he has done. Every now and then we exchange hugs and an “I love you.”
Sometimes when I have to admit to him that I’m sorry for my OCD behavior and apologize for something, he will say, “It’s okay. It is what mother’s do. You don’t have to apologize.”
After eating just a part of the breakfast, I went to workout. There is where, as I was recalling the words he wrote on the card, it hit me they are a good parallel of our relationship with God, who is our Father!
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Let’s take the words my son wrote to me in his note and see how it is also perfect for applying to our relationship with God.
Do you take time to thank God often for everything that He does for you?
God doesn’t cook for you or drive you around, but think of all He does for you~
God’s provisions provide….
….the food for you to eat
….the means to buy or grow the food
….the knowledge to be able to get an education
….the ability to work to provide for you and/or your family
….the different modes of transportation to get wherever you wish and can afford
….the land that you live on
….beautiful nature to bless your eyes with
….shelter
….places/ways to worship Him
….communities of people to love and care for you.
Photo courtesy of Wretched, Saved by Grace under Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC-ND 2.0); words added by hopetoinspireyou.com
Do you take time to thank God for caring for you?
….Providing you with solace when you need it maybe via a friend
….Hearing a song on the radio that ministers to your soul
….Sending you a beautiful sunset to see His radiance
….Opening up to the perfect Bible verse to show His perfect timing.
Do you take time to thank God for loving you; in fact more than anyone in this world can or does?!
….God loves you unconditionally; not like the “human” love that we know
….God loves you so much He sent His only Son, Jesus, to die to show the depth of His love
God is the ultimate BEST Father there is!
….God is always with you; never leaving you! In fact, God even lives in YOU!
Do you truly appreciate Him and all He does in your life?
Photo courtesy of jeffrey tucker under Creative Commons License (CC BY 2.0)
Here are two great reminders for us in our relationship with God, our Father….
“No matter what happens or how you act on a certain day, how true that God still loves you!!”
….Since God’s love is unconditional, no matter what we do, He still loves us.
….He loves us because He made us and we are made in His image.
“And celebrate everyday like its Mother’s Day/your Birthday…..”
Truly, we should live as each day on this earth is a celebration….
…a celebration of seeing God at work
…a celebration of sharing Him with all we meet
…a celebration of how much we are loved
…a celebration of knowing our identity in God
…a celebration of God’s glory all around us.
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May I encourage you this week to—–
***give thanks to God continually for all He does for you
***notice how He cares for you~providing what you need at the perfect time
***soak up God’s love that is always with you~no matter what you do or don’t do, God loves you unconditionally
***intentionally celebrate each day you are alive on this earth no matter the circumstances!
I will bless the LORD at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth. –Psalm 34:1 (ESV)
Praise the LORD! Oh give thanks to the LORD, for he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever! –Psalm 106:1 (ESV)
For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude. –1 Timothy 4:4-5 (NASB)
I will give thanks to the LORD with my whole heart; I will recount all of your wonderful deeds. –Psalm 9:1 (ESV)
Happy mother’s day Christine!
Thanks so much, Amy! And the same to you~I hope you had a special, blessed day! Thanks for reading; it was great to hear from you! 🙂
Funny little story about favorites. My uncle referred to all his nieces and nephews as his favorite niece or nephew. As we got older, our spouses just got included into his list of favorites. When he passed away, we wrote his obituary to state survived by favorite nieces and nephews and listed all of us by name. The funeral director called my mom to find out if there were any “unfavorites” that he had to worry about showing up at the funeral home upset they were not included in the obit! We all got a good laugh out of that as we assured the director that each and every one of us were his favorites and there wasn’t anyone who wasn’t included in his favoritism. He’s been gone for many years now, but we still get a chuckle out of that story.
What an awesome story, Jen, that sure made me chuckle too and brightened my day! I think maybe your uncle was modeling how God sees each of us too, right? 🙂 It is a running joke in my husband’s family of 7 kids too. You never know who will turn up in a T-shirt saying “I’m mom’s favorite” at which time everyone has to have a turn with a picture wearing it! I so appreciate you taking time to read and bless me!
I love this!
Thanks, Jenny! Thank you for faithfully reading each week and all your encouragement! I am so thankful that I am so blessed by you! 😉