happy mother's day! :)

to all the moms out there, i hope that you're having a beautiful day. i hope that those for whom you care are showing appreciation for who you are and the blessing that you are to them. yay!

this is a picture of my mother and me outside St. Andrews Presbyterian Church. there are so many things that i appreciate about mom, and i'm not sure how well i can enumerate them, but i will try to at least share of few things.

my mom is stronger than most people i know. she has lived through my trials as though they were her own and has done everything she possibly could to help me, even if it was just holding my hand. just watching my students go through horrible times is very rough for me, and i can only imagine what she feels when i have dark times. but, she handles it and manages to walk by my side every step of the way, no matter how tough it is to do so.

she also has a wonderfully contagious laugh. it's one of the neatest things to see--when she gets rolling, her laughter has a kind of sheer, unadulterated joy. the best part is that mom is astoundingly capable of passing that joy to others... it reminds me of my grandmother hixson, her mother, so i can only look forward to days when i might have that ability too.

last, my mom has taught me patience and grace. she works so hard for others and puts her needs to the side so often. she doesn't neglect herself though, and when she finally receives things that fill her spirit, she rejoices with gratitude. she knows the one thing that is the most profound longing in my life, and she helps me to maintain a meaningfully slow walk towards that. she knows that if and when it is made manifest, it will be... indescribably beautiful. mom imparts the patience that i need to wait for its own timing, and without that, i would be a mess. in a sense, she has helped me to listen and live around Psalm 40:1-3.

"I waited patiently for the Lord; and He inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit, out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a rock, and established my goings. And He hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the Lord."

incidentally, that comes from a bible my mom received almost 44 years ago. i think that's apt.