Mother's Day reflection

At the beginning of the gathering on Sunday, Peter asked us to take a few minutes to reflect on how your mom revealed the character of God.  Here are some thoughts from my reflection about my mom:

- truth - She values the pursuit of truth through inquiry, that what is spoken is true and worthy of being said, as well as speaking the Truth of the Gospel.

- mercy - Everyone makes mistakes, and we need to forgive them and restore them, just like our Father does with us

- provision - When I was growing up, a significant fraction of my mom's time was devoted to grocery shopping and meal preparation, and she did it faithfully and generously.

- protection - Example: When we lived on the edge of the Caprock escarpment, we regularly encountered rattlesnakes, and one time she shot a rattlesnake in our front yard with a .22 rifle from the front porch.  There is also a great spiritual analogy there of snakes representing evil and/or lies.

- help - Example: I worked on a project in high school Biology about the Krebs cycle, and she helped collect the materials and layout.

- faithfulness - She operates as a genuine and faithful partner/agent in her marriage, with her children, as an employee, etc.  Example: When my parents were in charge of the high school football concession stand, my mom performed many cost comparisons and cooked thousands of baked potatoes to maximize financial support for the band. 

- grace - She blessed us with good things, just because.  Examples: pecan pie, saving money from her piano tutoring to pay for vacations, going to the city swimming pool in the summer.

- beauty - She has a general appreciation for recognizing beauty inherent in God's design of creation (e.g., sunrises and sunsets, landscapes), as well as her own artistic expression of beauty (e.g., singing in the church choir or solos, playing the piano).

Later in the gathering, Rebekah shared a comparison of attributes of God expressed in Proverbs 31 and Matthew 6, which echoed several of the points in my reflection of my mom.

Father, thank you for my mom, and thank you for her personal relationship with you through Jesus.  Thank you for the opportunity to observe her growing in closeness with you, and thank you for her emulation of you. I love you.