Today my dear friend Rene came over to help me with the laundry. She is such a sweet friend who is getting almost more than she can take in life right now but that is for another post. This is about dirty laundry (well, sorta). The picture is of my twins, Butch and Sundance and my mother, Mommom as they called her (click on it to get a better view). I use the past tense because my mother is now a resident of Heaven. She left the earth to live with her best friend Jesus on April 20, 2002. A day that changed my life forever. You see, mother was not just my mother. She was my friend, my counselor, my cheerleader, my teacher, my kindred spirit. She had the wisdom of the saints, the joy of a thousand days, a love that is unconditional and the playfulness of a child. She is and was truly a blessed mother. Whenever I would enter the room whether we had been apart for an hour or a month her face would light up and she couldn't wait to hug me and find out what I had been up to. I was the envy of many of my friends to have such a wonderful mother.
Now that I am on this journey called Motherhood, I have been wondering how I can be a wonderful mother too. I look back on her example and try to emulate what she did for us (my brother, sister, father and me). I keep trying to be the best mother I can be yet many days I fail horribly. Like laundry for instance. How is it that I can be such a failure with laundry. How does it pile up so?
While Rene and I were in my room folding clothes and hanging them up, I came accross a large mailing envelope full of various letters written during the summer after I had graduated from high school. I went to Colorado to work for Young Life at Frontier Ranch on their work crew and wouldn't you know it. What did I have to do for four weeks, WASH LAUNDRY for all the staff and crew. Every day huge bundles of laundry would come into the washroom and we would wash it, fold it and then pray for the person whose laundry it was. I guess I had written to Mother about how I hated doing all that laundry and what hard work it was. My letter to her is lost but her reply will stay with me as long as I can preserve it.
Here is her reply:
Dear Amy,
How very much I have enjoyed your letters. I’m so grateful that you have a personal sustaining faith in Jesus Christ. I so love you and so want to make your life good – however I know that I can’t do that for you and you cannot even do it for yourself. The resource that makes that possible is Jesus Christ so to know you have him means you have the most important thing life can bring and I know God can give you a good life in spite of what the circumstances of your life are.
She goes on to talk about family, friends and the weather (typical hot and humid for a Texas summer.) and it closes with this:
Hope you’re having a good time as well as working hard. Grandmother said, “Didn’t Amy know she’d have to work hard?” when I told her about your letter. She said, “I think she knew she’d have to work hard, but I don’t think she really knew what hard work was.” You’ll know now.
I love you very much and miss you.
Love,
Mother
She didn't preach, she didn't talk about how laundry isn't that bad, she didn't even say that this too shall pass. She just encouraged me with trusting God. She knew where my source of strength was because He was her source of strength too. As a wife and mother, I am not going to be perfect. As a friend, I am not going to be perfect. As a laundress, I am not going to be perfect but Christ is perfect and if I work side by side with Him as my strength then He can take my filthy rags and make them white as snow.
Hi Amy,
What a beautiful post. It's so liberating to be reminded that, as your mom said, "The resource that makes that possible (the happy life) is Jesus Christ" Thank you for sharing that.
kara
p.s. i bet our moms would have liked one another too!
Posted by: kara | July 09, 2005 at 11:25 AM
I want to know how you get a friend like that....one that will help you do laundry! Ha!
Your mother was a special lady, and so are you.
Posted by: Cheryl | July 10, 2005 at 01:18 PM