A mother’s love – The Father’s Love
July 19, 2016 – I am sitting in the backyard of my childhood home where my 85 year-old mom has lived for 52 years. Her life expectancy is now measured in days. The circular sprinkler is watering half of the back yard, its spray like a burst of white sparkly fireworks. The mourning dove is cooing and a hummingbird flits along the lantana bush from one bright orange and yellow flower to the next. A young child is playing next door, sounds of laughter and the spring of the trampoline waft over the earthquake-proof fence. Small planes fly overhead every few minutes, as our house is in the flight path of Van Nuys airport. As I gaze out, listen and think, I ponder what I will miss most about my mom- her love.
July 24, 2016 – My mom woke me up at 5:30am, ringing the bell I provided her to summon me. After I assisted her, she told me to “go to church.” She was concerned that I not miss church. Once my sister arrived to stay with mom, my husband and I went to a Viney
ard Church in L.A., and returned at about 1:30pm. My mom’s breathing was labored as she gasped for breath. As I sat beside her, holding on to her arm, I told her “it’s okay mom; you can go now.” She took a few more breaths – then was still.
There is no love like a mother’s love- friend, mentor, cheerleader, supporter, encourager, listener. She was all this and more. My mom and I both taught English in a community college, and she would listen to my stories of students, colleagues, administrators, and tell me her own stories. Mom was always interested in the details of my life, and my children’s lives. She was constant, consistent, stable, always ready to listen, always interested, always loving- irreplaceable.
Ah, but there is One, only one, whose love is greater than a mother’s- my Jesus. And it is to Him I cling as I grieve my mom’s death.
The Lord appeared to us in the past saying, I have loved you with an everlasting love, I have drawn you with unfailing kindness. Jeremiah 31:3
This is love: not that we loved God but that He loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. 1 John 4:20
But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Romans 5:8
But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared, He saved us, not on the basis of deeds which we have done in righteousness, but according to His mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewing by the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out upon us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior . . . Titus 3:4-6
Oh Katie, I am so sorry for your loss. I lost my mom last year, so I know how your heart aches.
It is good to know what God loves us with an incredible love and that we can cling to Him for comfort.
I am sorry to hear, dear siste, of your loss! Thank you for sharing such a beautiful post from the depths of your aching heart. Praying for you!
I am so sorry for your loss. Praying that you’ll feel God’s loving arms surrounding you during this difficult time.