Five Minute Friday : Mom

00:00.00  Begin a five minute stream of consciousness on paper.

Mom.
How do I write
in five minutes about you?

You are the one who gave me life,
Who showered me with unconditional love.
You kissed away my boo-boos
and told me the great stories from the Bible.
You taught me right from wrong.
You led me early to your Lord that I might make Him mine.
You taught me how to pray, how to believe.
You held my hand when my heart was broken.
You stood in faith when all seemed impossible.

Now, like you,
I slow down to smell the flowers.
I 
sing with the morning birds.
I embrace sunsets knowing a sunrise will always follow.
Like you, I mark the seasons, looking for
Leaves changing colors and geese flying south,
Cold winter snows, icicles, and Christmas lights,
Yellow forsythia, returning robins, and pink tulips,
Dragonflies, butterflies, and the night songs of summer.

Twenty-three Mother’s Days have come and gone
And still I miss you.
I love you, Mom.

05:30.11 Stop

Celebrate this Week : Mothers in My Life

This week I celebrate mothers in my family, beginning with my mother, Helen and my grandmothers, Amelia and Alice. I celebrate their memory–thankful they forged the pathway of faith before me. Moving forward a generation to my daughter, Christina, and my daughters-in-law, Katrina and Jacqueline, I celebrate their lives–thankful that they too walk this pathway of faith with their children. These are noble women. Women of wisdom, givers of faithful instruction, caring for their households. Women whose children arise and call them blessed. These are Proverbs 31 women.

I

My mother on her wedding day.

Poetry Friday

On this Mother’s Day weekend, I thought of Frances Richey’s  “Letters” (read full poem here) from The Warrior: A Mother’s Story of a Son at War. Here are the closing lines —

I didn’t care about the gift.
It was the note I wanted,
the salt from his hand,
the words.

Though Frances Richey writes of mother and son, the deep feelings in “Letters” resonate across my memory of the years my husband served in the military. He came to me across miles and time not only in the words of his letters but also in the paper upon which they were written.

Thank you Kate Motaung for hosting.
Read more about Five Minute Friday. #fmfparty

I’m linking up with Ruth Ayres
where bloggers share something
they are celebrating. Thank you Ruth for #Celebratelu.

Tara at A Teaching Life  is hosting
the Poetry Friday Roundup today.
Join us there!  Thank you, Tara!

Poetry Friday Schedule: 2017 January – June.
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