REMEMBERING TWO MOTHERS

There is a very popular writing that has sold many copies entitled "Everything I Need To Know I Learned In Kindergarten". If you have read it you may say that there is truth in it's words. I have to disagree to some extent and have my own idea. I would have to say that most 'Everything I Need To Know I Learned From These Two Mothers'. The first picture is one of my mother and my daughter and son (quite a few years ago). As I began looking for pictures I had a hard time finding a picture of my mother by herself. I see so much strength when I remember my mother. I was five years old when my daddy passed away and she raised me by herself. I never knew there was an option of whether we would go to church or stay home. If it was Sunday or even Wednesday night...you were at church. She gave me an offering to give each Sunday morning. I never heard my mother speak against anyone. She taught me to love unconditionally. Mother worked extremely hard. In fact, until she became too sick, she worked in a steel plant and did the job that men did so she could provide for us. She taught me to love God and my family more than any thing. My mother loved people and they loved her. My friends from high school would come home with me to see my mother. I lost my mother in 1996. There aren't many days that go by that I don't think about her. I am so thankful for what she taught me.The next mother I had who taught me was my mother-in-law. I loved her like my own mother. I learned so much from her and I knew that she loved me too. She had four boys and no girls but her sons gave her daughters when they married. She battled cancer for many years but continued to carry on her life. One day on a trip back from a chemo treatment she told me these words "My body tells me to go to bed but my head says if you go to bed you won't get up". She didn't go to bed....she continued to stay up and about until a week before she passed away. She didn't offer her opinion much, but when she did you knew that it was thought through and you better take it! We canned soup, made pickles, and made sweet potato pies together. She could teach a Sunday School class like no one else I've heard. She looked forward each year to the time all her children would be together for the holiday.

Life was hard for both of these ladies. They didn't have much in terms of money....but they were rich when it came to love and what they gave. When I read Proverbs 31:28 Her children arise and call her blessed, I can't help but know that this verse was written for both MY mothers.