Priscilla Shirer: A Mother’s Love

Priscilla Shirer celebrates Mother’s Day by sharing memories that she has with her children and her own mother. Listen as she celebrates mothers and mother figures everywhere, and the incredible impact that they have in the world.

Heavenly Father I come before you in name of your son Jesus christ. Thank you for your waking me up this morning. I can see, talk and hear. Thank you for making a way, when it seem like their is no way. Have mercy upon me Lord, in Jesus name Amen. I believe and received!
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I had a conversation about Mother’s Day with my sister a while back.
We both let out a sigh and shared a laugh as we recounted memories of some of our mother’s days.
The ones that we’ve had that instead of being, you know, curled up with a nice book and a warm cup of coffee and a quiet afternoon of rest.
It was just the opposite. We had, you know, our fair share of all of the funny Mother’s Day mishaps that you think of in regards to that celebration pancakes that were served to us, you know, in bed, but dripping with syrup all over the sheets or dandelions that were collected from the front yard and then brought into our house into the kitchen, which means there was mud all over the floor.
And then of course, there’s those one of a kind construction paper cards that are folded off center and then they’re sealed with a kiss, but they left glue all over the kitchen counter.
But, you know, it is the thought that counts and the truth is somehow, it always seems that by the end of Mother’s Day, us moms are completely exhausted from all of the activities and the aftermath, the clean up that unfolds.
I mean, just yesterday, one of my sons made for me a mother’s day cake.
It was really a concoction of sorts, tea and homemade icing but made from, I don’t know what.
And he stood over me as I tasted it so he could have proof that I enjoyed it.
But the mess, oh, the mess, the messes are big.
But, you know, so are the joys and I really wouldn’t trade the days of syrupy sheets and front yard flowers for anything.
You know, in the same way.
I kind of think that’s how God sometimes views our eager attempts in life despite the mistakes and messes mayhem.
But God’s stead past love for us never changes.
We’re all sticky and dirty and just plain old silly and yet we’re loved. We belong.
I remember feeling like my mom was super human.
I mean, when I was little to me, she was an actual literal superhero.
I remember this one time that my brother Anthony and I, we were in the house probably with our siblings as well.
Um, but I remember my mom had turned on the stove right before walking into the garage, which at the time that is where our washer and dryer was.
So she turned the stove on, got dinner going, then she just walked out and put a load of laundry in.
But Anthony locked the door behind her and I remember hearing her from the other side of the door trying to explain how to unlock the door.
But we couldn’t figure it out that I remember walking around to the window and looking out of the window as I watched my mom run in what looked like to me, super human strength, leap over the fence line to run to the neighbor’s house to call 911 to get somebody to come unlock the door as smoke began to come out of the windows and fill the house.
I will never forget that picture.
She looked super human to me or that one time because, you know, all four of us were always getting in trouble.
That one time when we were running errands with our mom and we were in the car and she pulled up to a bookstore and went inside the bookstore, the whole front of the bookstore was all windows so she could see us and we could see her and she stood right there at the desk to buy what she was buying.
Um, but one of us kids decided that we would shift the gears on the car and she saw the car start slowly rolling backwards.
I watched my mom through that windshield, burst out of that store through the front door and run towards the car, reach inside the driver’s side and while the car was moving, she’s running along to put the car back in park.
I’m telling you, my mom was a superhero.
But now in hindsight, now that I’m a little bit older, probably have a little bit more perspective and have Children of my own.
I realize that the things that made my mom super human were really these internal characteristics, things you can’t really put a finger on and you don’t notice them when you’re younger, but they come alive to you the older and older you get.
And now I also realize that it’s not because she was super human.
It was because she had the power of the holy Spirit of God living on the inside of her.
You know, I’ve become more and more aware of and appreciative of those values, not just the older that I’ve gotten, but particularly in this past year, you see, last year, this time, my mom was diagnosed with a cancer that the doctors told us up front.
They didn’t think there was anything they could do to help it to be cured or resolved.
And even though many of them still prayed with us for a miracle, they told us medically, they couldn’t do anything to help her.
And we had so many people around the world throughout the past nine months that we’re praying fervently that God would do something to eradicate the cancer and to bring her back to full health.
And in the last three months of her life, as we sort of literally moved in to care for her and to care for my dad.
We begin to notice there in November and December of 2019 that her health was rapidly declining.
It was during those last weeks of her life that I saw those intangible qualities that I want so much for myself and that I appreciate her leaving that kind of a legacy for me.
It’s the intangible stuff like a piece that passes all understanding anybody that can still have joy that can still have a smile on their face that has invested so well in family that all her family wants to do is surround her day and night to be near her.
Her grandchildren piled up on her bed. What a heritage. What a legacy on December 30th.
She went home to be with the Lord.
She went to heaven and over that month before she took her last breath, I saw her slowly but surely loosening her grip on earth and looking forward to heaven in the end.
She’s even taught me how to die.
You know, it reminds me of one of her favorite passages, Joshua chapter four in Joshua chapter four, the Children of Israel are headed towards the promised land.
They’ve just crossed over the Jordan river, but they turn around and they put stones of remembrance in place so that when future generations would ask, what do these stones mean?
They could be reminded about the faithfulness of God.
I’m so grateful because that’s what my mom did for me, she’s left stones of remembrance.
And my kids are asking about integrity and consistency and character and faithfulness and all those intangible things.
And when they ask me about those stones, I can point to a woman who left them behind for us to see and pattern our lives according to, I wanna encourage you to do the same.
Remember that those intangible qualities, those daily decisions to live well, they matter.
Happy Mother’s Day.