Three Gifts Found in Your Mother {Inspired by Ann Voskamp}

Mother and I in 1973.  Pretty sure this is Easter.  My mom was rocking the long quilted skirt.  Granny Kitty made my pinafore dress.  Check out those knock knees! 

3 Gifts Found in Your Mother. This was the "Joy Dare" in my Facebook newsfeed Monday morning from Ann Voskamp.  I rarely participate in the Joy Dare posts, among other reasons because I struggle to come up with responses for some of her creative gratefulness prompts. 3 Gifts Flat. 3 Gifts Reflecting. 3 Gifts Woven Together.


But on that morning, when the whole world, it seemed, had been reflecting on motherhood from every possible perspective all weekend, I'd done a bit of reflecting myself.


On Saturday, while doing my Bible Study, I was reminded how thankful I am that my mother taught me reverence for God and the things of God. Bro. Kent says that profanity is "treating as common things that are holy." In our home, things that were holy were never treated as common. I learned by example from both my parents, but very much from my mother, to reverence that which was holy. In a world where that is becoming rarer and rarer, I am so thankful for a mother who modeled and taught reverence for God.

Mother and Granny Kitty at my wedding. Not long after this, Mother would become Granny's full-time caregiver. 

On Sunday, I was reminded during Bro. Gary's sermon of two other gifts found in my mother.  My mother taught me, again through example as well as intentional teaching, a love for God's Word and prayer, and the importance of worship and fellowship with God's people.


My mom has kept notebooks for somewhere near 40 years now of prayer needs, praises, Bible Study notes, and sermon notes.  I started similar notebooks (which have gone through various incarnations over the years) as a grade-schooler, and it delights me now to watch my children following suit.


We hear as parents that it is important not only to take our children to church, but to go with them to church.  I would say we need to go a step further...we need to teach by word and example that going to church is a blessing and a privilege.  "I was glad when they said unto me, 'Let us go into the house of the Lord,'" shouldn't just be a Bible verse; it should be our heart.


We should crave and enjoy worship and fellowship with the family of God! My parents loved every aspect of church: the music, the Bible teaching/preaching, the opportunity to serve, and the fellowship. I am thankful for that example, and for the love for the church (not a building, but the Body of Christ!) that it engendered in me.

Scrapbook page I did about my mom after she graduated from nursing school at the age of 58.

I am thankful for these three gifts found in my mother. I pray that I pass them on to my children. What gifts are you thankful for found in your mother?  I'd love to hear about them in the comments or on the Ponderings of an Elect Exile Facebook page.

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