My mother has been through a lot. For starters she grew up in a place called Waterloo. Now I know many of you are thinking, ‘what’s a Waterloo?’, well it’s a little place in Laurens county where people sit around drinking lemonade and ask each other, ‘what’s a Calhoun Fall?’.
In Waterloo, the only red light in town was the ones on the back of cars as they passed through.
My mother has been through a lot. When she was little she had a little trouble with the local law enforcement. It seems they didn’t like her idea of decorating the town for Christmas.
It seemed like a great idea. What would be more pleasing to the cars that drove through town than to pass through Christmas lights hanging overhead.
It worked for a couple of hours, that is until a Mack truck told them that it might work better if they hung the lights a little higher than eight feet.
My mother has been through a lot.
In 1970, she married a Footsie. Now I know many of you are sitting there wondering what a Footsie is. But strangely enough, Footsie’s come from a Calhoun Falls.
They moved to Gaffney where my mother patroled the halls of an elementary school while her Footsie patrolled the highways of I-85.
Three years later, she had a Footsie junior. But the thought of a Footsie, junior was just too much to handle so they called him Marty instead.
My mother has been through a lot.
Life was peace for a little while, but only for a little while. Because it wasn’t long, until she had me.
My mother has been through a lot!
I never made life easy for my mother. I made her eat strawberries every day when she was carrying me and I decided to come into the world right when a tornado was a few miles down the road.
When I got older I made her wash my Dukes of Hazzard t-shirt every single night so I could wear it the next day. And for some reason, she did it.
When I got a little more older, I would expect her to drop everything going on her life to take me to basketball, football, and baseball practice. And she didn’t seem to mind even though I pushed her away from kissing me in front of all the guys at basketball camp.
She would call the florist and order flowers for me so I could give them to my girlfriend on Valentine’s Day, even though I never got her anything for Valentine’s Day.
She never missed a football, basketball, or baseball game. Even when someone broke into her car and stole her pocketbook at one of my games, she made me feel like my triple was more important.
Even when she didn’t feel like it, she was there keeping score and taking pictures.
She didn’t seem to care that we never won a game, she always stood up and did silly little cheers with the other moms in the crowd.
But she always let me know when I had messed up. Even though it would have been easier to let it slide, she made me quit the track team when I was ‘released from the National Honor Society’ and she told me when my sermons stunk when they stunk.
When I am wrong, she lets me know that I am wrong, even when I am convinced I’m right.
And she always smiles when I see her. Whether she wants to see me or not, she smiles, she loves.
She’s a mother, she’s my mother. And I am her son.
Even when she didn’t understand me or understand what I was doing, she stood by.
When I said things that didn’t make sense, she defended me and tried to understand.
When I was hurting, she was hurting. When I rejoiced, she rejoiced.
I’m sure many of us can relate to what has been said. I’m the words spoken today have brought back many wonderful memories about our mothers. And that is why we celebrate today, to honor our mothers and the unconditional love they show.
We all can share in what was said today, mothers have been doing incredible things for centuries, even back to Jesus.
Saint John gives a final moment between Christ and his mother. That final snapshot shows his mother under the cross of Christ, never leaving his side.
It’s a picture that shows us the relationship between Christ and his mother for his entire life. There were many times when she didn’t understand what he was doing, but she stood by.
There were many times when she didn’t understand what he was saying, but she defended him and tried to understand.
She was always faithful, always encouraging, showing confidence in him when he performed his first miracle at Cana in Galilee.
She loved.
She is the perfect example of a mother. She is the example of many of the mothers that are honored here today; faithful, caring, understanding, loving.
But the story doesn’t end here. The photograph that Saint John gives us doesn’t just show us a picture of a loving, faithful mother, but of a loving faithful son.
The snapshot shows the last words exchanged between Christ and his mother. Words that were spoken to ensure her care when he left this world.
Words that were spoken by Christ at the moment of his death that were not of him, but of his mother.
For years, the mother of Christ, took care of him, cried with him, laughed with him, and suffered with him. Now he was leaving, and in his final act, he reciprocated all the love and devotion she showed him, but making sure that she would never be left alone, that she would never be without care, without love.
It’s snapshot that shows us the love that exists between a mother and son, it’s a snapshot that shows us the love that SHOULD exist between a mother and a son.
It’s a snapshot of a love that is shown to all of us by God, and a love that we should reciprocate to everyone!
Always faithful, always seeking to understand, always caring, always patient, always comforting, always smiling, always loving.
Today we honor our mothers. Those special people who gave us life, who brought us in this world. Those who sustained us as we grew. Those who put up with us when nobody else would. Those who wiped our noses and read us bedtime stories and checked the closets for lions, tigers, and bears, OH MY!
Those who spanked us, but cried harder than we did.
Our mothers.
What better way to honor our mothers and to honor our God, than to show the world what they have shown us? What better way to celebrate their love and faithfulness than by loving and being faithful ourselves?
If we want to really honor our mothers, from the mother of Jesus to your mother, let’s imitate them.
If we really want to honor our God, let’s imitate him.
Because in that final moment between Christ and his mother that Saint John gives us, we see Mary and Jesus……imitating each other.
In the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, Amen.