Thou Excellest Them All...

I left the bedside of my mother a short time ago. It seems lately the struggle for her to maintain her health has grown harder and harder.

I have thought so many times during my life how I would have loved to have known her when she was a young girl. From the stories she has shared with me she was amazing. Strong and independent, she was a firecracker. I always bemoaned the fact that it was my brother that got her looks for she has always been a beauty. My Dad has told me that he was the luckiest man in town when he got her.

My mother has always put herself last. She has never been one to complain, never wanted attention drawn to her. She has been content to live her life in the background and let her family shine. She still laughs about the fact that I couldn't understand why my house didn't stay clean like my Mama's once I was married. It never occured to me that she stayed up after we had long gone to bed to make sure everything was done.

My mother married my father when she was 16. A year later my brother came and just 6 weeks after his birth she lost her own precious mother. This was probably the defining moment in her young life and she pressed on, raising her children, and learning on her own all the wonderful things she has passed down to me.

Even now as she once again lies here in the hospital she is thinking of everyone else, trying to will herself well so that she can be home to help my father. And where I have fallen short so many times to meet the example of the Virtuous woman in the 31st Proverb, she has excelled that example in so many ways.

She has been my teacher, my confidant, my strength, and my example. But above all, she has been my Mama. I know looking at her life her own mother would have been so very proud of her little girl that became a woman all by herself, using the examples living in her memory. "Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all." (Proverbs 31:29)

I am so proud to have been her daughter for these 40 years. Her quiet ways speak volumes to my heart as I see the struggle life has taken on. I am not as concerned with the "why's" behind her struggle, as I am humbled by her ability to pick herself up with the attitude of "why not."

So to my beautiful Mama tonight, there are no words that I can say to you to even begin to explain how much you mean to me, the impact you have made on my life, and the love that is here with every beat of my heart. I can only pray that I will be as strong as you have always been. And I'm thankful that I see your strength. I love you so very, very much.
Your Baby Girl...