Thursday; October 8

Today would have been my Mom’s 81st birthday, so in her honor I would like to share a few life lessons she left me. (By the way, she tried to teach me many of these lessons throughout much of my life, but with many of them, I was a rather slow learner.) In honor of her birthday, here are a few Momisms:


1. Act like you know better. I still hear these words ringing in the corners of my memory. Mom expected us to behave, not only in a way that didn’t embarrass her and my Dad, but in a way that was appropriate it. They had provided us with a good background, they expected good behavior.

2. You marry who you date. As a teenage boy, it was exciting to go out on dates, but Mom would always try to keep me grounded by reminding me to date girls with similar morals and values. Romantic love is fickle and you never knew which girl you could fall for, so before starting a dating a relationship, you’d better make sure she shared a common belief system. (Now that I am married, this translates into a parallel lesson of friendships, “Evil companions corrupt good morals.”)

3. Everyone needs a cheerleader. My Mom was not realistic when it came to certain things. I think she thought I was the best preacher ever. She was convinced that no one could have had a better daughter-in-law than she did. She had the smartest, prettiest and most talented grandchildren – bar none! There were times when I listened to how she would brag on us and I wondered where her rational came from but now I realize she wasn’t speaking from the head, she was all heart. In a world that is so fixated with tearing us down, we all need someone who sees it as their job to build us up.
My Mom taught me a lot about life, hopefully yours did to – but if not, feel free to borrow a few lessons from my Mom. I have plenty to spare.
Think About It!

Popular posts from this blog

Thursday; May 3

I have a fish tank that allows my three Bettas (Larry, Darrell and Darrell) to live in the same structure, but remain hidden from each other – well sort of.   When I go to feed the fish, I believe that one of the Darrell’s can sort of see that the other Darrell is getting fed and he will linger over on that side of the tank even after I put his food in his tank.   I have to tap on the side of the tank where his food is floating to help him refocus and eat.   I get the impression that he is so interested in what is going on in the other Darrell’s tank that he can’t enjoy his own food. I have been told that the brain of a fish is pretty small – which explains their inability to process “blessings”, but are we guilty of the same malady as Darrell?   Are we so worried (or consumed) by what happens to the people around us that we fail to realize what is going on with us?   Are we envious of the blessings that others are receiving and end up missing out on what we have been given?   Are w
Read more

Thursday; February 14

         While most of us are familiar with today being Valentine’s Day, there are some who actually refer to February 14 th as “St. Valentine’s Day”.  This title is often affixed to a criminally historic event known as “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” on February 14, 1929 in Chicago, but that is another story for another time.  Not knowing much about the history of “Saint Valentine” I did a little research and found out he was a Roman religious leader who was martyred in 269 AD.  According to my limited research Valentine was killed because of his encouragement of Roman men (especially soldiers) to marry which was in violation of Claudias’ edict that prohibited marriage to keep their minds singularly focused on their task of defending the Empire.  Somehow, from this beginning – and possibly embellished by Chaucer – St. Valentine became intertwined with the concept of romantic love.           I am not really sure how February 14 th became connected with love, but inspired by thi
Read more

Wednesday; December 6

What does it mean to be a leader? I subscribe to the belief that a leader is someone who seeks the best for others and works with them to achieve their potential. There are others; however, who define leadership as the ability to have a vision and the tenacity to get their own way. Leaders who are this way are often portrayed as having developed the maturity to manipulate people to do things their way. However, is the ability to drive people in our direction mature or is it childish? The Christians of the 1st Century came from a lot of different backgrounds and had to work hard to work together. As the Apostle Paul challenged Christians in the city of Ephesus he challenged them to accept individual differences, “… until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ. “ (Ephesians 4:13). Bossiness was not to be viewed as a sign of maturity, a willingness to wo
Read more