What Makes a Great Mom?

Selflessness    
Creativity
Endurance
Heart of Compassion
Unconditional Love
A Vision
Good Sense of Humor

As I think about Mother’s day and being a million miles away from my own mother and from my own children, I think about what I have been blessed with and how I desire to grow to be the best mother I can be.

I have listed some traits that I believe make a great mother.  My prayer is that I can always strive to grow more each day to be all that God has created me to be.  As I meditate on these thoughts and characteristics I can’t help but think of my own mother and the traits she exhibits.

My mother is one of the most selfless women I know.  From as far back as I can remember she has always put the needs of her husband and children above her own.  My mother grew up in a home where she experienced the love of her mother for only a short time.  By the age of 10 her mother was gone.  I can’t imagine growing up without my mother.  My mother didn’t get to experience the love of a mother who wanted to pour into her all the goodness that life has to offer.  So when my mother became a mother at a young age, this was her chance to make her mark on the world.  I am happy to say she did!  My brothers and I have truly been blessed to have our mother.  I know we have NEVER doubted the love of our mother.  She has always gone above and beyond to make us feel loved and special.  

I didn’t grow up in a home where “money was no option”.  I always remember the words “budget” being a part of our household.  God has blessed my mother with the ability to stretch a dime as far as it can go.  She has such creativity!  I have never felt like I went without in my life.  I have learned great things by her ability to juggle life so well.  She laid a foundation for me that I will ALWAYS be grateful for!  I especially saw these values and skills come to life as I became a mother and had to stretch funds to make “dreams come true” for my own children.  The drive for a mother to fill the longings of their child’s heart is endless.  Due to such a great teacher, my mom, I was able to share so many of those gifts with my own children.

As most people know, when you get older things like Birthday’s seem to lose some of their excitement.  Not so for me, thanks to completely to my mom.  It never mattered where I lived, how far way I was or where my parents lived she remembered.  Especially in the times when it felt like the whole world forgot about my birthday, my mother NEVER did!  She always had a gift there on time, and called to wake me up singing with my dad.  She made it really clear to me that it was a gift for me to enjoy!  It was not to be used to pay a bill or  to spend on anyone else, but to use it to enjoy my birthday.  She always had a way of letting me know that I am loved and was being celebrated on that day.  Thank you Mom for ALWAYS making me feel special.

As a tribute to my mom I would like to share a special memory of her and how she made me feel loved in her actions, not just her words.  It’s in the little things we actually feel love the most.  My mother has always said that growing up I was a “girly girl”.  Well it’s probably all her fault.  She probably perpetuated it without even knowing it.  When I was young my mother had to work.  She wasn’t able to stay at home.  Yet she never made that seem like a horrible thing, I know she would have LOVED to have been able to stay home with us.  Every morning when she would get ready for work and I would get ready for school before we left the house I would tell her I needed some lipstick too.  So she would kiss me on the lips with the lipstick she had just put on.  I still remember the smell of the lipstick; it was like double mint gum.  In that small act she made me feel like the prettiest girl in the world!  I was totally ready for what the day had in store.

Thank you mom for all the sacrifices you have made along the way to try to give Adam, Josh and I the best of you.  Thank you for planting a faith in me so deep that could move mountains.  In my life I have never wavered in trusting God to see me through any extraordinary circumstance life has had for me.  I know that it was by watching your life example that I learned how to do that.

Someone mentioned a quote to me the other day and it reminded me of you…..