Thursday, February 13, 2014
jimmy thoughts,
Mom's brave love
Some of my earliest memories of my mom were her primping over me getting me looking just right to go to church. Finally, she would then give the impossible, stern, instruction "Jimmy, don't you mess up these nice clothes now, we're going to church". So my first lesson from mom was a great love and respect for the Bible and its' truth.
Mom always loved animals and taught me to love them as well. Yet another example of her great love for even God's smallest creatures. We always had many, taking in strays, until dad would say, OK that's enough. We even had a pet squirrel once. That silly thing was a part of our family and would come and climb up on my hat.
Mom was emotionally very strong, yet gentle. Her strength and faith united our family as we faced many tough, uncertain times. In the last few years mom showed herself once again to be very brave as she gracefully bore the loss of her husband, Billy. With her usual faith and determination she then fought her diagnosis of bladder cancer, then radiation and chemo treatment. Finally unable to physically withstand the chemo treatments, she then confronted the reality of the end of her life. Mom did this bravely, through her faith in God. She demonstrated to everyone her strong, loving heart, and never faltering faith. She influenced all her friends and caregivers with her special love.
Oh, some might say that the cancer beat her, or that it won the game. But, the truth is that Christ has won saint and, to all who knew her well, we will carry some of Mom's brave love with us for the rest of our lives, and in that, Mom's love will never die. J.D.H.
