Mom's Newsletter Article

Here is the article Mom wrote for our women's ministry newsletter on seasons.

My enthusiasm tends to sign me up when I am not wanting the work! Of course, I am in the winter season. God has done it again; He has saved the best for last.

Your children do not rise up and call you blessed when they are at home. The blessings come after they leave home. They drive for miles to spend two- and three-week intervals nursing their father so he does not have to go to a nursing home. My husband's physical stature was too much of a challenge for me. My children would warn me about Dad falling and that I would just add to the broken bones, so I was asked to go in the next room and pray when they walked him to the bedroom.

"The house of the righteous contains great treasure" (Proverbs 15:6). "A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children" (Proverbs 13:22). Dad was often going over his plans for the amount he wanted to give to each child. It has been my joy to write the checks! Bill, our first son, gave of his time and expertise so I could have the joy of giving in my winter season.

In my winter season I have had the delight of reading the best book I have ever read on marriage! "It is in the special fire of covenant relationships that the keenest and brightest edges are being honed. For we stand in the light of others, and that light reveals to us who we ourselves are."

Indulge me one more quote and you will know why I love the winter season. "In our pleasant little fantasies of omnipotence and blamelessness and self sufficiency, marriage explodes like a bomb -- an unrelenting guerrilla war against selfishness."

Only when we see Him will we be as He is! "HUSBANDS ARE A GODSEND!!"

Typical, obscure Mom. At least, obscure to me. As I read over and over Mom's article, I tried to tie together the threads of incomplete thoughts and get to her point. Her first paragraph was such a lovely introduction, then I couldn't understand how the rest tied in. I think maybe that the second paragraph is intended to be thankful for children, the third to be thankful for financial provision, and the fourth to be thankful for her husband. The fifth paragraph did not at all make clear to me why winter is Mom's favorite season, so I asked her.

She said that she finally feels like she has made some progress at this point in her life, like she sort of gets what life is about. And that soon she will be made perfect when she is with God.

Her closing line I think was to make a point. She told me she thinks women don't like to talk about their husbands being a Godsend in their lives. And yesterday she told me that she feels the only Godsend she's ever had was Dad. Which is sweet of her to think of Dad as a Godsend, but really? He was the only person God ever sent into her life to make a difference for good? Sweet, but either near-sighted or sad.

Again in typical Mom fashion, she wondered aloud why no one had discussed her article with her. She said she thought quotes were the only way to communicate about marriage, but marveled that no one had commented on the quotes. She said people only said things like, "I liked your article." I suggested that if she wanted to use the quotes as a conversation starter, to respond to article compliments with a question like, "What did you think about the quote that said ________________?". She thought that was an amazingly good idea. Social skills, we need social skills.

Anyway, I did have a lovely conversation with Mom on her back patio in the beautiful spring weather. And then Mom, Ev, Perry, Noelle and I went out to MacKenzies for barbecue and onion rings. It doesn't get much better than that. :)