Sunday, October 9, 2011

You might not believe this, But... in all of my 49 years of life I have learned many lessons from my MOTHER.  Stand up straight, Eat all your vegetables and don't swear.  Her silent example has meant the world to me.  She has never talked about anyone or gossiped and when I was a young girl she never raised a hand or her voice.  My favorite lesson is her amazing ability to feel connected to Christ.  Her example is perfect because she has always served others and put herself last. Whenever we drive by a homeless person on a corner holding a sign she says "Stop...That might be Jesus"  I'm sure she wishes we would turn around so that she can give him money from her modest wallet.  But we keep driving.  My brothers and sister and I joke that our Mom has 9 lives.  She has congestive heart and lung failure. Being on Oxygen 24 hours a day she never complains. She's been in and out of  hospitals a lot the last 4 years. She has escaped death many times.  Its a blessing because I have so much more to learn from her. This last hospital stay was extra serious.  I left her bedside so that she could rest.  Traffic was slow because it was lunch hour.  As I was driving to my house, I saw a homeless man on the street corner.  I watched him while waiting at a stop light.  His legs were mangled and his step was slow as he painfully approached cars.  He had a positive smile which surprised me as he held his sign with a strange sense of pride.  As I drove past him I caught a quick glimpse of his face. Our eyes even met for a split second. After a few moments I thought of my Mothers words.  "Stop...That might be Jesus".  So... I turned around.