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June 27, 2004

Parental wisdom

As I was mowing the lawn today, I remembered several items of wisdom from my late mother. While I realize that today is Sunday, I use the time pushing a power mower to pray and meditate.

I am the eldest of 6 children and the first to marry. I had been married only a few months when my mother took me aside. "If you ever enter my house complaining about your wife, I will throw you right back out the door. " She was all of 5' tall and usually weighed around 100#. But I had no doubt that she would have succeeded. "I am your mother, I can't help but be on your side. So you will NEVER put me in the position of taking sides in your marriage. You made your commitment. You will work things out. Do not bring your complaints to me!"


Many years ago, it must have been at a "difficult time" (probably a tight time financially), she told me that when I was small she had been told by her confessor "Who told you that life would be easy?" "Offer it up" She prayerfully took it to heart. She taught it to us. I remember hearing from her an endless number of times. "Offer it up" I also remember being chided for the time we all caused her to spend on her knees in prayer.

The older I get, the better I understand what she meant. I recognize just how powerful are the gifts and the tools she gave me.

Posted by John Huntley at June 27, 2004 8:44 PM

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Comments

What a wise woman your mother was. She makes me think of my mother-in-law who also taught me the concept of "offer it up" which I use constantly. How blessed we are to have such people to teach us even if we don't understand exactly what we are learning until later on.

Posted by: Julie at June 28, 2004 3:09 PM

And I am so glad that someone else's mother told them, "Who ever told you it would be easy?"

My mother's other mainstay was, "Who ever told you life was gonna be FAIR?"

Posted by: MamaT at June 29, 2004 11:57 AM