Tag: Mom

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I Found Treasure!

Remember those piles from yesterday? The pile in my bedroom is getting smaller, like a snowdrift in January…which is to say that only I can tell it’s shrinking!

A few layers down, I found treasure. Not a forgotten $20 bill or check from a long lost cousin; what I found was worth more than money to me. (Although a tiny sum would have been a nice find, don’t you think?)

My treasure:

There’s a story behind this drawing. In March of 2009, my sister and I took Lily and Emmy to visit my mom in Iowa during Spring Break. We were going to leave Ed at home for a whole week, so Lily requested that he draw picture of himself. She wanted to bring the picture on our trip so she wouldn’t forget him. (Maybe I’ll discover that drawing next!)

We had a great week. Mom was feeling stronger, and we were all hopeful that she would recover from her radiation treatments and that her cancer would be held at bay. My sister and I took her to the mall on a search for dresses for my little sister’s wedding in May. Grandma read, sang, and cuddled with her favorite granddaughters. The week passed by quickly.

When it was time to leave Iowa, Lily requested a self-portrait from Grandma. However, as we were about to get into the van, Grandma didn’t have time to draw a picture. She drew, scanned and emailed a picture to Lily the next week. (Mom was a computer-savvy Grandma!)

I have a plan for this treasure. I’m going to frame it and hang it on Lily’s bedroom wall. Right next to this picture:

Grandma and Lily in March, 2009

Hopeful I’ll find more treasures in that MONSTER of a pile,
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Christ is Risen!

He is risen indeed! Alleluia!

The banners above were made in praise to God by my mother. She truly spent all her days praising God. My mind is still trying to wrap itself around the fact that she has died.

As Easter begins tomorrow morning, my lips will be singing along with the choir,

I know that my Redeemer Lives!
What comfort this sweet sentence gives!
He lives, he lives, who once was dead;
He lives, my everliving head!

but yet my heart may be saying,

“My God, my God,
why have you forsaken me?” (Psalm 22:1)

I’m reading Psalms tonight. David knows the anguish and despair I’m feeling. But yet he amazes me…the very next psalm, Psalm 23, is the most comforting psalm in the Bible.

Surely your goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life
and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. (Psalm 23:6)

How can this be? How can David be so distressed in one verse, and then so uplifted in the following verses?

Faith. He had a great faith…a faith that I seem to be lacking.

Some events in the past week have made me think about my mom. I’ve been looking back; remembering; caught up in the past.

This past week was also Holy Week, and so I’ve been preparing for Easter. I’ve been looking forward to celebrating Easter. I’ve been looking toward the Resurrection.

In this journey of grief, I mourn every day that takes me further away from my mother. Every day that passes takes me farther away from the time when my mother was alive.

But what if I look at this passage of time in a new way? Every day that passes is one day closer to when I will see my mother again. My human mind cannot comprehend this; Mom died; she is gone. But with faith, I know I will see her in heaven again.

And so I need to look forward. I need to look to the cross. I need to look forward to the day I will join my Savior in heaven.

Because I know that my Redeemer lives!

Easter blessings to you and your family,

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