Thursday, June 2, 2011

A Mother's Love

We had an enormous thunder and lightening storm last night that seem to last most of the night. I was awakened several times by the bright flashes of light coming in around my window blind, but I quickly fell back to sleep and didn't worry. Our son, Matthew, and my husband, sat in the living room after I went to bed for the night, and watched the beautiful display of light being staged in the sky. And when I said my prayers I prayed for all those who would be afraid during the storm because I knew there would be some who would be, but I wasn't, nor was there any in my house who were.

You might wonder why none of us are afraid of thunder and lightening and I will tell you that it's because of my Mother's love for me that we are not afraid. When I was a little girl and there was a storm raging outside, my Mother would tell us, quite excitedly, to sit on the couch and watch the lightening flashes against the black sky. She would say how pretty they were and have us make a game out of counting how many we saw and if the thunder would really boom and sometimes shake the house, she would laugh at it and tell us we had nothing to be afraid of. When it was our bedtime, we were all tucked in like any other night and she would hear our prayers and give us a kiss and it was bedtime as usual.  As a result, neither I, nor my siblings grew up being afraid of storms.

It wasn't until I was an adult that I realized how much of an effort that must have been for my Mother. Mom was deathly afraid of thunder and lightening storms, but we never knew it until we were grown. When she was a little girl, living in West Head, N.S. near Lockeport, and it stormed, her mother would get all of the children up out of bed to sit in the kitchen and wait until the storm passed by. No one was allowed to go back to bed until they knew the storm was over, just in case the house got hit and they had to leave in a hurry. It put a great fear in my Mother that she fought every time she had to experience a storm. Because of her love for her children, she didn't want any of us to grow up being afraid of storms like she was, so she bravely faced her fear and never let us see it.

Her example to us has helped me to be brave in situations that I probably wouldn't have been, had it not been for my Mother's love in not passing her fear on to me. I have hid my fears and faced them, rather than hiding from them, so that my children would grow up confident and feeling safe. Mom's example has helped me so much. I have been blessed to have had a brave, self-sacrificing, dedicated Mother, who loved us, her children, enough to put us before herself and her own fears.

My Mother taught me many things and continues to even now. She always told me that 'God will take care of you', and she was right, He always has. I think one of the best things she taught me was that fear doesn't come from the Lord and that all things have a purpose in creation, and thunder and lightening are no exception. I'm thankful for my Mother's great love for me. In facing her own fear and overcoming it, she has not only affected the lives of her children but her grandchildren as well. I love you Mom.

He collects drops of water.
He distills rain from his mist,
which then drips from the clouds.
It pours down on many people.
Can anyone really understand how clouds spread out
or how he thunders from his dwelling place?
Look, he scatters his flashes of lightning around him
and covers the depths of the sea.
This is how he uses the rains to provide for people
and to give them more than enough food.
He fills his hands with lightning
and orders it to hit the target.
The thunder announces his coming.
Job 36:27-33

2 comments

  1. " AWEEEE THat is So Awesome.....I grew up the same as your Mama did...However, I know my Mother loved us so very much....She only did what her mother & father had taught her to do to protect us....don't think she realized how very afraid it made us to sit around an ol' wood stove, all dressed & ready to get out if the house was hit !!!! However, with God's help I was able to over-come my fear & try and teach my own children different.....God is So Good !!!! My Mama has been gone 18 yrs. now & I still miss her terribly & she taught me so many wonderful things....Most of all she was a very Godly woman and passed her love for Jesus on to all 6 of her children. Thank God for Godly Mothers !!!!(Hugs}

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  2. amen Pat, thanks for sharing. God bless.

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