A Second Mom

A Second Mom

Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.

Isaiah 58:10

The music teacher at my daughter’s public school is our school’s “second mom.” Our immersion teachers call her their American mom; she is often the first person on this continent to hear the news of engagements and pregnancies for our young teachers who crave a mothering figure in their lives on this side of the ocean.

She knows the names of her students, their siblings, and their parents. She stands outside the school doors on chilly mornings, keeping students company as they wait for the bell to ring and the doors to open.

A whirlwind of activity, she is constantly meeting needs quietly and rallying the parental troops around worthy causes. Her home, a block from the school, is filled with kids and families on afternoons and weekends for piano lessons, and her entryway is always filled with donations of food, snow boots, or winter jackets—because parents know she will get the items to someone who needs them. She is a trustworthy person who can be called with questions, and she’ll always know the right people to talk to in order to find answers.

My love for her tender heart and generous spirit has only grown over the past year that my daughter has been enrolled as one of her piano students. She knows my daughter’s strengths and weaknesses, and she knows when to push and when to encourage. She is my daughter’s biggest fan—just as she is every child’s biggest fan.

My kids, while clearly loved by her, are just two of thousands of children on whom she has poured out equal measures of love, affection, and guidance during their elementary years and even beyond. Her faith is quiet, yet her actions speak so clearly of Christ’s love. She feeds the hungry and helps those in trouble, and her light shines in the darkness. I can think of no other person who fits today’s verse in so many areas of her life, and she is a shining example that I strive to be more like.

—Julie

— Today’s Act of Kindness —

Is there someone in your life who lives out today’s verse? Consider some ways you might pattern your life after theirs, and let them know how they’ve made an impact on you.