Happy Mother's Day:

Hope you've had a good mother's day today. This edition of OnFire is dedicated to my mother. She's a proud mother. She has all of my OnFire messages collected into a binder. Mothers don't ever stop being mothers.

Jan and I have an anniversary coming up Friday - 16 years. Hard to believe. We've hired a girl from our church to watch the boys for a night and we're going to take a night away.

I hope you're looking forward to the neat ways God is going to work this week.

Take care,

Troy

------------------------------

In preparing for a Mother’s Day message, I came across the passage in Exodus 1 and 2 where Moses’ family faced the uncertainty of giving birth to a son when Pharaoh had decreed that all male children would be put to death.

As a parent, I can’t imagine the pain and stress they must have felt. The pressure they must have been under even to consider placing three-month-old Moses into a tarred basket to float among the reeds on the Nile River...

While I can’t imagine the situation, I love this passage because I see what mothers down through the ages have always done. Moses’ mother protected him as long as she could, and when she could hold onto him no longer, she set him afloat among the dangers and uncertainties of life hoping she had done enough. Moses was too young, but I suppose that regardless of our ages, we were all too young in our parents’ eyes.

I talked with my mother tonight. We remembered  again when she drove me to college with my grandparents. Because of my late-season birthday, I was still 17, but I was excited to embark on my journey. After unpacking my room and meeting a few people, it was time for them to leave. I stood waving on the dorm steps thinking, "Woo hoo, I’m on my own." From the car they waved, but they were wiping their eyes.

Mom did a good job in raising me and she didn’t need to worry, but I can say this with hindsight. I’m sure she had nagging doubts about whether she had done enough to prepare me. Was it enough? Was it the right stuff?

Yes, Mom, it was the right stuff. Faith in Jesus, honesty, integrity, perseverance, character, hard work, how to handle money, to take responsibility, to speak kindly of people or not at all, to cook and clean, the value of education. This and so much more.

On mother’s day we have a lot to be thankful for. I know I do.

Take care

Troy

---------------------------

ON FIRE is a weekly letter of encouragement by Troy Dennis. This letter published May 14, 2006.