Mom Heart Moments #245

If I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself, that where I am, there you may be also.

AT 5 O’CLOCK ON A FRIDAY MORNING several years ago, Sarah crept into our darkened bedroom and said, “There was a call on your cell phone in the living room a few minutes ago.”

My brother was on the other end of the line. “Mom just passed away, and I wanted you to know.”

We had anticipated this moment for a long time, as she had been ill. Now, it was final. There would be no more opportunities for words of life between us, no sweet caresses against warm cheeks, no putting to rest any unsettled issues, no more moments to bless or take away curses. Her opportunity to live a story was now over.

I wondered then if the One who said He was going to “prepare a place” for me in heaven had prepared a welcome committee that morning for my mom. Perhaps my dad would be there, my oldest brother, my mom’s parents, and maybe even her grandparents. It made me smile, to imagine her feeling well again, laughing, hugging those who had shared in her life.

Memories began to flood my heart: birthday celebrations, candles lit and music playing as she put on bright red lipstick each evening to welcome my dad home after work, the ways she served me as an asthmatic child, singing songs in the dark nights of difficult breathing, the way she gently played finger games with me in church to pass away the long minutes of the sermons, her willingness to listen to me for many hours throughout the passages of childhood, the little welcome signs that greeted me every time I came home from college or for holidays. I will always be grateful for the gracious ways she mothered.

What beautiful, lifegiving memories will you make with your own children today?