Proverbs 31:13 - She seeketh wool, and flax and worketh willing with her hands.
Moms hands were never idle. And more amazing than that, they were usually doing more than one thing at a time. She was the epitome of what we call a multi- tasker. And they were always working fast! We could never keep up with her, and she would tell us she was nothing compared to her mother.
We have so many modern conveniences to help speed things up like vacuum cleaners, washing machines, dishwashers and microwaves, not to mention cell phones and computers. They only had themselves, and with 3 times the amount of work they had to do, they had to be fast.
Mom learned to be a homemaker at an early age. Because they had 8 girls and only one boy in their family, most of the girls had to work alongside their dad out in the field. Mom preferred to be inside, so she became an expert on the inside chores so that her Mom would say, “Don’t take Loa out with you, I need her in the house.” Her sisters thought that was so unfair and teased her about it until their dying days.
Besides working in the home she would tell stories of her dad raising hundreds of turkeys and how they had to pick the feathers out by hand. Also of working in her sister’s café, she always said she enjoyed being a waitress. She went to business school and became fast at the typewriter. She had a creative mind and would make us pretty dresses, crochet afghans and raised pretty flowers.
There are not enough words to describe the many things that make her the virtuous woman that she was but several years ago I tried to do it in a poem. I would like to share that with you at this time.
A Tribute To My Mother
If you can learn while you are yet in childhood
To love your parents and their will obey.
If you can learn to work and share with others
And strive to do what’s right both night, and day.
If you can get a call to serve a mission
And leave your friends and family far behind;
And in your absence lose your loving mother
And yet return and still think God is kind.
If you can watch your father be remarried
And accept the one he chose to be his wife,
And always be on hand to give assistance
And help them through the trials of older life.
If you can stand beside your loving husband
And support him in each dream that he pursues,
And work and toil to find some unsuccessful
But not give way to scoffing or accuse.
If you can bear to bring to life nine children
And love and nourish them ‘til they're full grown;
Then open up your heart to foster children
And take them in and treat them as your own.
If you can learn to be a loving neighbor
And give assistance to the poor and ill.
If you can take a part in public matters
And stand up for the things you deeply feel
If you can live the things that you believe in
And what the critics have to say not fear,
If you can bite your tongue when there's a need to,
Yet speak your peace that you may be sincere.
If you can pray and worry for your children
Who seldom notice all the things you do,
And still be proud to say that you're their Mother
And forgive the many times they've made you blue.
If you can do all the things I've mentioned
And keep on striving hard to do much more,
Then you could be compared to our dear Mother
Whom we’re so very deeply grateful for.
In closing I wish to express my deep gratitude for all that motherhood encompasses. For our wonderful mother and mothers in law, and for the gift of being a mother, a grandmother and eventually a great great and beyond to posterity yet unborn. I am so thankful for our grandmothers and the great and great great grandmothers , clear back to mother Eve, the mother of all living. Then ending and yet beginning with a mother in heaven.