Covenant Relations With Missionaries 

Town of Straldza, Bulgaria

Love Thy Neighbor Project

Council on Ministries Calendar of Events

Columbia District Office  of the United Methodist Church
(57 charges; 66 churches)

4908 Colonial Drive

Columbia, S.C. 29203

803-786-9486

codist@umcsc.org

The title of this article, “Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World,” isn’t original to me. Author Joanna Weaver has written a book by this title that is a wonderful treatise on finding intimacy with God in the busyness of life. Sounds like motherhood, doesn’t it? No one deserves a special day all to herself more than a mother.

            A cartoon showed a psychologist talking to his patient: “Let’s see,” he said, “You spend 50% of your energy on your job, 50% on your husband, and 50% on your children. I think I see your problem.” Most mothers can identify with that!

            With this almost impossible workload in mind, there is no question that Mother’s Day is a day when we need to give mothers a break. Rest is in order, to be sure. I like the story about the four-year-old and the six-year-old who presented their Mom with a houseplant on Mother’s Day. They had used their own money and she was thrilled. The older of the two said with a sad face, “There was a bouquet that we wanted to give you at the flower shop. It was real pretty, but it was too expensive. It had a ribbon on it that said, ‘Rest in Peace,’ and we thought it would be just perfect since you’re always asking for a little peace so that you can rest.” I sincerely hope, if nothing else, we will allow Mom a little time this Mother’s Day to rest in peace.

            Mothers are our mothers our entire lives and even beyond the grave they continue to influence us. It’s so very difficult to let our Moms go to their heavenly rest. For most mothers it’s also hard for them to let go of us. I read recently about a stay-at-home mom with two small children. Her husband urged her to attend a company dinner with him. She hadn’t been out in a while in that kind of setting so she spent some time at the library catching up on current events. At the dinner she charmed everyone with her knowledge of things. She was doing absolutely great indeed, when she suddenly noticed that everyone at the table was silently staring at her. She wondered why, and then realized that she was cutting the meat into small pieces on the plate belonging to the person beside her. Old habits die hard. Mothers especially remain steadfast in giving encouragements, support, and sometimes a helping hand.

            A psychologist named Paul Chance wrote about his mother’s untiring devotion in an article in “Psychology Today.” He told of watching television with his family back in the days of live broadcasts. A woman was walking down a staircase carrying what they all thought was a real baby. Midway down the stairs, she dropped it. Since it wasn’t a real baby, and since dropping the baby wasn’t in the script, the actress picked up the doll and finished the scene. Paul Chance says he would have forgotten that show long ago but for one thing. When that “baby” fell from the actress’s arms, his mother instantly lunged towards the TV as if to catch it. The rest of the family just sat there. A mother’s love has no limits. It’s amazing how much mothers are like God.

 Tim