I sat in
the waiting area of an auto service center one afternoon earlier in the week
while the tires on my car were being rotated.
When I arrived, the waiting area was not crowded, but it was loud and
although I had not yet determined the source of the noise, it was difficult to
communicate with the person at the counter to tell her what services I
needed.
When I sat
down, the culprit of the noise became evident.
To my right sat two ladies, one in her mid-sixties and the other in her
mid-eighties maybe even nineties. The
older woman was reading a book very loudly to what appeared to be her
daughter. She was reading a story about
a young girl who lost her mother. I was
slightly intrigued by the story, but truthfully, at the same time a little
annoyed at the reading out loud experience.
She read page after page and when she came to a word she could not
pronounce or recall, there would be silence.
Her daughter would say the word and then her mother would wait a few
minutes and either mispronounce it or say it correctly and then continue
reading.
I would
glance over every now and then and observe this little frail lady with huge magnifying
eyeglasses holding the book about 3 inches from her face. It wasn’t too long before the auto service
person told the daughter her car was ready.
She went and paid at the counter while her mom continued reading
aloud. She came back to the waiting area
and said, “Let’s go to the car, you can continue reading to me there.” The little lady got up, looked over at me and
said, “She said we need to go to the car now.”
It was almost as if she thought I would miss her story time
offering. I smiled and told her to have
a great evening.
As they
left, I noticed the mother’s hair all matted in the back and how thin she
really was. It took a while for her to walk outside, but the minute the door
closed behind her I began to cry. If anyone had walked in at that
very moment they might have looked at me and thought wow, this girl needs Jesus
(boy, don’t we all – and always?!).
I thought
of how much I miss my momma and how I won’t get to see her on Mother’s Day or
any day until I meet Jesus too. But I’m
also thankful she won’t be here on earth to deal with old age, dementia,
needing to read aloud to exercise her brain, and to deal with matted hair from
sitting back in a chair, lying in bed, and being sedentary too long day after
day.
What an
example of true love this daughter had for her mother. Selfless love. The same kind I’m sure her mother has shown
her for many, many years.
No one
loves you like your momma except Jesus.
So on Mother’s Day and every day, love your momma because time is a gift
and you never know when she won’t be with you any longer.
