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Dear Sister,
Happy Mother's Day to all
of you who have given birth... and to those of you who have
'mothered' in others of the hundreds of ways that women
choose to nurture life! Today I awoke to a diversity of
birdsong and for a brief, groggy moment thought I was a
child on the farm again. Spring takes a long time to happen
in Saskatchewan, but when it does, it is the most awesome
event. Ed and I took a walk yesterday in the dusk and
marveled over the solitary leafed-out poplar we came
across-- when we stood back we could admire the lacey
prettiness of the tree, like a little girl in her most
flouncy party-dress, the kind you can twirl around in. The
three fat robin gents are back in our yard (did you know
that robins return year after year to their actual place of
birth?) making their families, one's mate has her nest on
top of our meter box under our back balcony. There will be
a cacophony of birdcall, and probably some 'divebombing',
when the nest is full and we dare to use our balcony for
anything other than a convenient crow-barrier and roof to
the nest.
Today I will go to visit
my Mom. She is frail and bedridden and may or may not
welcome the 'ceremonial rite'. In her heyday, my mother was
the great 'iconoclast', eschewing any signs of
sentimentality in others, although her Irishness and her
artistic streak meant that she herself often went down that
road. I know that I am very fortunate to have my parents
with me still. I am also blessed, as a mom myself, to have
kind and gentle sons... even though hundreds of miles
separate us and although our younger son will choose to
overlook this day as having any significance. And our
precious daughter-in-law, Marylen, is an impending mommy,
making me an almost-grandma (October 21). Life is rich and
God is good!
Years ago a special aunt
gave me a slim book for Mother's Day called "Prayers from a
Mother's Heart." The author, Judith Mattison, went on to
become an ordained Lutheran minister. I came across one of
her sermons on-line and am including a snatch because I
think it speaks to one of the gifts of the mother-ministry
that we honour today, that of demonstrating our Christian
commitment for our kids to see:
"...our example will be the strongest influence. To take the
time to go to the nursing home. To sign up to shovel walks
in the neighborhood. To teach an immigrant to read. To have
coffee with a new widow, or an isolated neighbor.
Servanthood takes action, passion. It's not about how you
quote Luther or think about politics. It's a doing thing.
Now of course, many of us choose to serve by also speaking
to issues like reneging on Indian treaties, just when
they've begun to get on their feet. And together we'll
continue to vote in elections and give to the World Hunger
Appeal and keep our congregation vital in the SE
neighborhood. But ultimately, it's the one-to-one caring
about others that will catch people. It may well mean that
you have to change your schedule, rearrange your priorities.
But you'll catch people with the very things that God in
Jesus gave to you...with love, with forgiveness and with
servanthood."
Two dear friends have
recently lost their fathers. Z. is traveling back to Africa
with her husband and children on Tuesday to attend her
father's funeral. I caught a glimpse of her face yesterday
as the Pastor eulogized motherhood and suspect that she was
thinking of her mom and the grief she is experiencing, too
far away for a comforting embrace just yet. My friend E.
told me at the door that she has now closed the chapter of
having living parents in her life, but that she does not
regret for one moment driving several miles every second
weekend to be with her dad over the past years. I assured
her that this activity has been a reference point for me in
my relationship with my aging parents. Another friend, K.,
has been tending to her very ill and aged father in the
hospital this weekend. He has the painful edema associated
with acute pneumonia, but, praise God, did not have the
heart attack they thought at first he had had.
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Just a reminder:
Women's Ministries Day of Emphasis is coming up in June.
You can find out more about this, and many other topics
(newsletters, conventions, outreaches) at the official site
at
http://www.nadwm.org/
What will your WM be
doing? Let me know and we can highlight it in Angel Co-op.
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As I close today, I want
to encourge each of you to get out and serve as you have
been gifted to do-- you'll be blessed as you bless others!
In Christ,
Cynthia
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