Hello Hatters,
As I was rearranging one of my rooms, I came across my mom‘s old carpet bag. After she passed away six years ago, I had put some things away in that bag. I didn’t have the emotional strength at the time to decide what to do with these items. When I opened the bag this time, I found some of mother’s clip on earrings. Pictures flooded my mind of her different outfits and carefully picked costume jewelry to accent her style. She loved her bling.
It wasn’t only her fashion choices that sparkled, for most of her life, mother shined with her encouragement for those around her. It was her best gift. Although she suffered many years in pain, when anyone else was around, she shifted into modes of listening and inspiring others.
I miss her. For some reason the coming of this year‘s Mother’s Day hits harder than the previous years. I can’t put my finger on it. And yet, the timing of finding mom‘s carpet bag and earrings may have prompted some much needed reflection. I spent so much time caring for and then mourning the loss of Country Hubby, I realize now that I never fully grieved mama’s death. Throughout my life, she was my best cheerleader and prayer warrior.
I have an image that has helped me. It’s an illustration of a flag flying high in the wind. Mom was that flag, a banner. In my youth, she waved the direction to home. She welcomed the weary. She fed appetites and souls.
She was also firmly grounded in family values and traditions. So she was not only the flag, but she was the flagpost; my mom, the one who was solidly planted with deep roots. Mom brought people together. She was our glue, until she wasn’t anymore.
My timeless God carries me in the good and the hard. Almost 20 years ago, I did a study of the Jehovah names of God. That study comes to mind regularly and I’m so grateful for this name, Jehovah-Nissi, “The Lord is my Banner!” It comes from an Old Testament passage in Exodus chapter 17, when the Lord gives the Israelites a victory and Moses build an altar and called its name Jehovah-Nissi. It was an expression of thanks and a place of remembrance.
So, my eternal God is the ultimate banner. He’s the God who stays and who whispers in my heart, “Keep going! I’ve got things for you to do and people for you to bless!” This image of a flag waving in the air invites me to be the cheerleader and the prayer warrior. I want to be both banner and post for my family and friends.
MT Penny
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