The Mom Celebratory Weekend. It can be the best, worst and everything in between for every person on the planet. Regardless of what this crazy world tries to convince you of, there is only one gender giving birth. And after giving birth to my two beautiful daughters, I’ll not allow any man the ability to say he’s experienced it. Because if he had, he’d be dead. Just saying.
But tomorrow is the day of celebration that began in Grafton, West Virginia, started when Anna Jarvis held a small memorial service for her own mother on May 12, 1907. Soon after, most places in America were observing the day and in 1914, the US president made it a national holiday, celebrated on the second Sunday of May.
I’ve delivered my purple posies to my Mother Violet a few days ago, although she credits my grandson Logan, and that’s okay. The blessing of having my Mother with us is not lost on me (or my siblings). She is in fact the only matriarch remaining in our family on either the Hardway or Spencer side. She’s a jewel that taught each one of us the power of humility.
Like myself and my siblings, my mother and hers differed in many ways, but one amazing thing that our parents instilled in us is the ability to be humble and take care of one another, and even other peoples “one another’s.” From generation to generation I’ve witnessed it.
As I grew up our home was filled with multiple blends of cousins. There was never a shortage of children or food. I honestly think that my mother had the oil pot afforded by Elijah to a “certain woman” in 2 Kings 4. (I’ve pasted the scripture below for your reading pleasure) But the jest of story goes that the woman was about to lose her sons because she lost her husband and couldn’t pay his debt. Seems pretty harsh, but it was Old Testament Days. So Elijah tells her to gather and borrow every vessel she could find, and then he (through the power of God) fills every vessel full of oil so that she can sell it and take care of her debt and family.
My Mother’s pot was more than likely filled with, beans, soup, or spaghetti, but it was endless for every visitor who passed by. Her home was a welcome place of refuge for all who entered in. I can’t say that I’ve mastered that aspect. With twelve people (6 adults and 6 children) traipsing through my house daily, its more often got the vibe of an animal shelter. But the food bowls are always full!
But I said all that to say this on Mother’s Day weekend. Whether or not you had the perfect childhood, or life has dealt you some really harsh blows that didn’t come with a vessel of oil, do yourself a favor, and give yourself the gift of being a blessing to someone on Mother’s Day. Bring someone a flower, visit someone who lost a mother or child. Above all share the love that Christ has for you. We may lose sight of our loved ones on earth, but our Heavenly Father, isn’t going anywhere.
While I am the publisher of the Ridgeview News, I am first and foremost a child of God, and a child of Violet Macil Spencer Hardway. The absolute most compassionate, caretaking woman on earth.
2 Kings 4:1-44 KJV
Now there cried a certain woman of the wives of the sons of the prophets unto Elisha, saying, Thy servant my husband is dead; and thou knowest that thy servant did fear the LORD: and the creditor is come to take unto him my two sons to be bondmen. [2] And Elisha said unto her, What shall I do for thee? tell me, what hast thou in the house? And she said, Thine handmaid hath not any thing in the house, save a pot of oil. [3] Then he said, Go, borrow thee vessels abroad of all thy neighbours, even empty vessels; borrow not a few. [4] And when thou art come in, thou shalt shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and shalt pour out into all those vessels, and thou shalt set aside that which is full. [5] So she went from him, and shut the door upon her and upon her sons, who brought the vessels to her; and she poured out. [6] And it came to pass, when the vessels were full, that she said unto her son, Bring me yet a vessel. And he said unto her, There is not a vessel more. And the oil stayed. [7] Then she came and told the man of God. And he said, Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy children of the rest.
