….I want to celebrate the
incredible blessings that God has given me in my own Mom, Ruth Putney, and in
my mother-in-law, Charlotte Carpenter. They have both shaped and influenced my
life greatly, and I thank God for them.
One of my earliest memories of my
mother is of sitting in her lap, being rocked in a rocking chair, and hearing
her humming and singing me to sleep. In
fact, I remember hearing my mom hum and sing a lot during my childhood as she
cooked delicious, nutritious meals for our family, as she folded laundry, as
she mopped the floor…my theory that life should have background music, as my
older sister Ruth once put it, clearly comes from my mother (and my dad, let’s
not neglect his singing in the car, but that’s a topic for Father's Day) who
always seemed to be making music of some kind, whether her own humming, or
playing the piano. Oh, yes, the piano! She played for multiple church services on
Sundays, for choir practice, she played for us kids to sing along at home, (how
can I ever forget our family sing-along Messiah times?) she played Grieg’s “In
the Hall of the Mountain King” for us to dance around to like total maniacs in
the living room—one of my favorite childhood memories—and I remember some
nights going to sleep to the sound of my mom’s hymn arrangements floating down
the hallway. My lifelong love of the
piano and pretty much every kind of music has deep roots in the musical garden
that my parents cultivated every day in our home.
Now that I’m forty-something and
have three teenagers of my own, I am in awe of my mom and the incredible
amounts of work she did daily to keep a household of eight running. I learned cooking and baking from her, and
how to shop wisely: my mom organized a collective shopping group with other
missionary wives, going to a wholesale warehouse to buy flour, sugar, meat,
frozen vegetables, and other staples in large quantities at wholesale prices,
in order to stretch the family budget.
She cooked wonderful meals at home, taught us how to bake bread, pies,
cookies, how to cook, and how to roast a turkey (don’t even get me started on
the enormous Thanksgiving dinners at our house with 30+ people on our back
porch.) I learned how to sew from my mom, how to mend clothing, how to clean a
house, how to do laundry, and in general how to keep a home running. She taught
me by example how to nurse a sick child, how to juggle work and home
responsibilities, how to manage finances, and how to be loving and yet firm. Does Proverbs 31 pop into mind?
When I got a little older, my mom
began teaching at the mission school, Wesleyan Academy. I had the privilege of having my mom as a choir
leader and as a teacher in a class for the Seniors called “Personal and Social Development” (think:
Sex Ed, Marriage, & Family.) My mom was a wonderful teacher, and I
know that my own love for and rapport with high school kids is really just an
echo of her ability.
Where did my mom get the strength
to do all of this? Well, another thing I
learned from my mom is the importance of spending time daily in God’s word, and
speaking with Him in prayer. From my
earliest childhood I knew that my mom (both parents, actually) placed a high
importance on personal and family devotions. I know now that the only way she
did everything she had to do each day was through supernatural strength from
the Lord.
When I met and later married my
husband, Eric, God blessed me for the second time with a mom, this time my
mother-in-law. Like my own mother, she is a true Proverbs 31 woman. She is
constantly serving others: cooking and serving in the ministry at her church to
senior citizens (yes, I know technically she IS a senior citizen, but she is not
old in any way,) ministering to the homeless, caring for the flowerbeds at her
church, helping me and her own daughter Esther with our kids and homes in
pretty much any way we need her, counseling many people through difficult times…and
the list could go on. She has helped us
move from north (NY) to south (GA,) then halfway north (NC,) and finally all
the way around the world from India back to Georgia. For that last move, she
did all of the telephone leg-work to find out where we should have Bobby treated,
and even set it up so that when we got off the plane, we already had an
appointment to see his pediatrician. What would we have done without her?
She has been there for Eric and me
through life-threatening medical issues with two different children, through
the infancy of two of them, through life’s ups and downs, and we always know we
can count on her to help if she can. Like my own mom, she is multi-talented and
frugal; she, too, knows how to shop well, how to manage finances, and how to
run a household efficiently. She has added to her abilities in the last year by
learning how to quilt, and making Mary a beautiful quilt, with plans to make
each grandchild one. This inspires me to continue with my own quilting efforts!
As I reflect on motherhood today, I
realize that God has given me two of the finest examples of mothers that there
could ever be. My mom and my mother-in-law are truly two of my best friends and
closest confidants. How many women can
say that? Next to Eric, who is my best friend, they are the first ones I think
to call in life’s hard times, or if I need Godly advice, or to share a joyous
moment. I am blessed beyond
compare.
So today I praise God and thank Him
for both of my moms. May I continue to grow as He shapes me to be the mother I
should be; this would mean becoming more like each of them.
