Mother's Day – a Time to Express Gratitude.
The celebration of Mothers Day began back in 1908…encouraged by Anna Jarvis of West Virginia, USA. It became an official holiday in the United States in 1914. It started in honour of Anna Jarvis' mother and took the form of a simple church service. The idea spread around the world. As we come to the 2020 Mother’s Day celebration my memories go back to my own mother. She “passed on” near four years ago and I have many good memories for which I am grateful.
I am reminded of an incident back when I was pre-teen boy. I “back chatted” my mother. I demonstrated “lack of respect”. There were 5 of us kids and when I (being the eldest) started to “test the boundaries” my mother needed a little help. When my father returned home from work later that day I soon felt “the board of education applied to the seat of learning”. I never “back chatted” my mother again. When I look back now I am grateful I had a dad and mum who loved me enough to discipline me. It was not abuse. It was tough love. I had tested the boundaries and found that the consequence was painful. I did not repeat my misdemeanour.
Us kid’s were given plenty of chores. I remember complaining at times but I look back now with gratitude for these tasks. With seven of us in the family there were many dirty dishes to clean. Not only did we wash and dry dishes daily but mum had the audacity to give me spelling quizzes and times table reviews while drying the dishes! Talk about multi-tasking! Yes, 9 times 9 = 81! Funny how I used to do well in the spelling tests at school and still remember all my times tables! Thankyou to my mum!
I remember as the school term began the TV would always be switched off by 7.30pm. It was a bit tough missing “Bonanza” during school weeks – especially when most other kids watched it! 7.30pm onwards was time to do homework and reading. We did look forward to those favourite TV programs during school holidays but mum (and dad) wanted us to have a good education. Later on, imposed discipline (from my parents) became self discipline. I learned to love reading and gain education. Thankyou to my mum.
Other chores put on my schedule beginning at the age of 6 included gathering sticks daily for lighting the wood fire in the morning and chopping wood for this same fire. My brother assisted with this as he got older. At the age of 8 I was given the task of milking the house cow every evening – 7 days a week! A bit onerous but as I got older I could see that there was money to be made if I milked both cows and separated the milk and sold the cream. I had paid for my first bike by the age of 15. Thankyou to my dad and mum.
The faithfulness of mum is amazing when I look back – thousands of meals prepared, vegetables and meat served up, we didn’t go hungry. Clothes were washed – in the old copper in earlier times before electricity came to the western district soldier settler farm we were raised on. Thankyou to my mum and dad for the daily routine of hard work looking after us. Financially things were tough in the earlier times – one wool cheque for the year, a farm to be paid off and our grocery bill at the local shop in Wickliffe was enormous!
Mum was a woman of faith. She insisted we “give thanks” for our food before each meal. She took the lead in taking us to church – we never missed. It might have been tedious at times but I still remember how important the Sunday school lessons became to me – Mrs. Prust, Miss Grimmer and John Butler (it was special that John was a good footballer with the local “Magpies” team – I played with them too) taught us many truths from the Bible. I needed to hear them. At the age of 5 I was afraid of dying. I am eternally grateful that I heard about Jesus Christ – His amazing life and then death on the cross as a sacrifice for each of us and His rising again. In knowing and following Jesus I found the answers to the big questions of life – Where have I come from? Why am I Here? (the purpose of life) Where do we go after we die? I have gained peace within, forgiveness of sin, purpose in life and a wonderful hope for today and eternity in the midst of the challenges and joys of life. Thankyou to my mum again.
Mum would be the first to admit she was not perfect – but I have much to be grateful for. So on this coming Mother’s Day I aim to be part of a local church service (via the church website because of coronavirus restrictions) where I can give thanks to our Creator for my memories of mum – the tradition started by Anna Jarvis 112 years ago. Mothers Day – a day for all of us to pause and express gratitude.
Bruce Stewart.