Mom said

A light that lingers

As I write this, our little group is driving out to the mountains to have “church” and I am thinking about Mother’s Day. This week, I’ve had two random thoughts that have kept coming back around. As we drive, they met together and formed into one.

Wednesday evening, we went to Lake Billy for supper. I was watching the sunset and way later, long after the sun was behind the mountains, there was still a soft mellow light around us. And I thought about a phrase I read in a book “twilight is just light left behind, a light that lingers”. And there, in that soft light, I thought of my mom. Tuesday would’ve been her birthday and I had been paging through my book of memories. When memories are all you have left, they become sacred treasures, like a well loved book, pages soft and worn. And i had to think how that “light that lingers” is like a memory. My mom is gone but there are bits of her light that lingers throughout my life. Her legacy is her light left behind. Each of us will leave a light behind. In every conversation and interaction, we leave a light behind. Someday, that will be our legacy. When our time is done, we will take our last breath, and someone will lay our bodies to rest beneath the sod. Our light will linger on in the lives of those who loved us.

Thursday, I was at work. As I was restocking and cleaning in the greenhouses, I was listening to the conversations of the customers around me. We were super busy so most of what I heard “went in one ear and out the other”. Then a group of older gals came by and I heard one of them say “now I understand why my mom always said…”. I didn’t hear the rest of what she said because someone else asked me where to find the perennials. But i started thinking about how the middle aged section of my life has been admitting that now I understand why my mom said some of the things she said. If she was still alive, i would call her and tell her. I would thank her for telling me even tho I’m fairly certain that it appeared that nothing was soaking in.

This morning, the two thoughts gelled into one. All the things our mothers taught us, all the things they passed onto us from their mothers, are lights left behind. All the light that lingers shapes our lives every day. Its in hand me down recipes, cleaning hacks, and sewing tips. It’s in our everyday “rule of thumb”. They say that a lot of what we call our conscience is the voices of what our parents taught us. We shape our lives with second hand wisdom. Our habits, thought patterns, and coping mechanisms are shaped by mothers teaching. Not much of what we know is an original thought. We owe an awful lot to our beautiful mothers for passing on what they learned from their mothers. I’m thankful for every time I hear my mothers voice in my head. Im thankful for every bit of light that lingers in my life from mothers long gone. I’m thankful for every mother that passed down what she learned even if it appeared like I thought I knew everything. I’m thankful for every mother in Israel that has left a lingering light in my life. We humans don’t tend to age well but wisdom sure does, especially godly wisdom. May we love and appreciate our godly mothers and grandmothers. May we strive to be godly mothers. May we try to understand “what mom always said”. May we teach our children and our children’s children. May live our lives out in plain sight. May we be brave enough to share what we’re learning. May we live so that some day the light remains from our lives will illuminate the path that winds upwards towards Home. What a godly heritage we have been blessed with! May God bless all of Israel’s mothers. 🤍e