One of the best parts, for me, of being Lutheran is that liturgical churches don't focus their services on secular occasions like Mothers' Day/Fathers' Day. For several reasons, those days were always difficult for me, and sitting through church services oriented around them made it worse.
This is something I wrote the first Mother's Day after my mother died. I called it "The Woman Who Has Everything," and it's based on my own religious beliefs.
What kind of Mother’s Day gift do you give the woman who has everything? I’ve received lots of advertisements during the past several weeks, encouraging me to give her flowers, perfume, books, clothing, jewelry, objets d’arts from around the world, and, if none of that seems appealing, a gift certificate from any store in town or across the internet. None of that will do any more, though, because no one delivers packages to the place where she now lives.
I’ll grant that a look around the rooms in which she used to live brings many potential gifts to mind, because there sure isn’t much there. A few housedresses, a photograph or two, a couple of pieces of costume jewelry (she took her favorite piece with her when she left), a partially used bottle of perfume, a bed with a few stuffed toys and the handmade, heart-shaped pillow that was my last Mother’s Day gift to her, are just about all that remains. That’s where she used to live, though. Where she lives now is another matter.
What do you give the woman who has everything? Look at what she has:
-- A brand-new mansion, custom-made just for her, sitting beside a street made of gold;
-- A whole wardrobe of bright white robes that will never become soiled or stained;
-- A crown set with jewels that makes the trinket she took with her look like the toy it was;
-- Unlimited access to trees that bear 12 different kinds of fruit, all of it fresh, ripe, and sweet, with no bruises or flyspecks;
-- The same access to a river that carries the cleanest, freshest water ever made;
-- And if that isn’t enough, eyes that can see, real teeth that will never get a cavity or produce a toothache, a straight back and strong legs that don’t hurt, and a torso with no hole in the left side [she had a colostomy].
She has quite an impressive list of possessions, but she has something even better than all of them put together. She has the all-fulfilling personal attention and a breathtakingly un-obscured view of the God of the Universe in whose presence she now lives, who gave her not only her new home and everything in it, but also Himself to make it all possible.
She knew about all this before she left. She saw it not long before leaving, reached up for it, gazed at it brightly and eagerly with eyes that no longer had any central vision, and tried to rise up from the bed in which she lay and grasp it. Just a few hours later, those eyes closed and she was there, and all of it became hers forever.
What kind of Mother’s Day gift do you give the woman who has everything? I suppose the last thing I gave her as she was leaving, just a short blessing, will have to do:
“Go in peace. Join the Lord.”
Posted 3 years ago by Leeny #
