Mothers Day

Today is Mothers Day. For those of us whose mothers have passed away, it is a day of remembrance and thankfulness. We are thankful for their love for us and the sacrifices that she made for us.

I recently learned something new from the animal world about motherhood. We have a few chickens that we keep for their eggs. Yvonne recently decided to try to hatch some more eggs to add to our current chickens. She put a number of eggs from our chickens in the hatcher. For some reason, only two eggs in this batch hatched and only one survived.

When the surviving chick was three weeks old, we decided to buy some live chicks from the store. We picked out six cute ones. When we got home, we placed the six new chicks in the box with the three-week chick. That evening, as the sun went down, the six new chicks seemed to think that the three-week old was their mother. The crowded up to her. To my surprise she allowed them to do it. When they were scared during a storm, they crowded under her wings. I was even more surprised when the mothering instinct took over for her and she took the little ones under her wings to protect them. Here she was still at the age she would have been hiding under her own mother's wings, but instead she had become the mother figure herself.

This morning as I was thinking about my mother, I also remembered a few other women that played a major motherhood role in my life. These women were not my mothers, but they stepped forward at times when I needed some mother-type leadership in my life.

Carolyn Hess was my mother. she was a person that I could always depend on to love me and to pray for me.

Katie Patterson was my mother-in-law. She was a very quiet person and did not have a lot to say at times. Like my mother, I could depend on her to love me and to pray for me. Her quiet Christ-like manner was a great example to me to follow.

Esther Steenson was another lady that had quite an influence in my life. I learned many things from her that I believe helped me become a better person.

All three of these women are gone now. But I am not ashamed to say that I loved all three of them and I miss them. Celebrate your mother today, but also celebrate and recognize those in your life who were not your mother but played a mother-like role in your life.