14) BackPage: Mother’s Day in the USA

When I was 3 years old, my mother started worrying about my speech. The thing was, nobody could understand me. I verbalized a lot. But it was completely unintelligible. The neighbor kidded my mom, asking if maybe she had made a mistake at the hospital and grabbed a baby from Holland instead. She took me to the family doctor. He examined me — and found that he couldn’t understand a word I said either. But he told my mother how to make a difference in my speech. He asked her to read to me for a full hour every day. My mother was half German. She took him seriously and so we began. By the time I was ready for first grade, I could speak. In fact, she would often joke with people that, once she got me started, she couldn’t get me to shut up. :-) In addition, she had read to me so much that I had all the books memorized. My first grade teacher thought I was reading real-time, when in reality, I was just reciting the lines from memory. Before long, she started using me as a reading helper for all the other kids in my class. Without realizing it, my mother had propelled forward by at least a couple of grades. By God’s grace, I never looked back and, thanks to my mother, graduated first in my class from high school and 2nd in my class from college (B+ in phys. ed.).

Mothers are like that. They feed us, clothe us, love us, and, in general, give us head starts throughout life. Today, on this special day, we recognize them fair and square, but the truth is, we ought to recognize them every day in the year. I’m convinced that every mother should receive some kind of special medal for her efforts on behalf of kids, family and God.

On behalf of each and every worker serving cross-culturally today, today we say thank you to all moms, both around the block and around the world. And for the mothers who have left their homes and taken their kids to foreign soil to serve as missionaries and development workers, we salute you and we’re grateful for your sacrificial service.

My mother passed away this past October 20th. This is my first Mother’s Day ever not to have a mom to go visit. By God’s grace, however, I was able to thank her plenty of times while she was alive. My advice to all who are reading this email: Don’t miss the chance. On this day, and every day, please say thanks to your mothers. And thank you Lord, for blessing us with our moms.

Doug