Mom’s advice

 May 9, 2021

This is a first for me. For the seventy-one years I’ve been alive, I’ve had my mother on Mother’s Day. She breathed her last this past October. Ninety-eight years she had, during which time she accumulated a lot of wisdom. Last week in Sunday School, our son Nate asked the class to think of the words of wisdom we learned from our mothers. It was interesting to hear what other mothers taught their children, lessons most of us learned in one way or another, but which were different in emphasis depending on the mother.

I was never much of a talker, and I don’t remember my parents sitting down to expound upon life lessons with any of us kids, except for one saying mom drilled into us: “Keep your original commitment, even if something better comes along.” Over the years, these words have made life much easier and simpler than it would have been without this wisdom. When making decisions, it’s not hard to second-guess yourself, which if left unchecked, leads to caroming from one choice to another like the ball in a pinball machine. Making a choice and refusing to look back helps me keep a steady course when things aren’t going according to plan. Mom’s words don’t mean I cannot adjust when necessary, but they do keep me from bouncing back and forth in indecision. 

As a pastor for nearly forty years, I can attest to the heartache and emotional wreckage caused by people who made the choice of a life partner only to decide later on that someone else looked like a better choice. Promises and commitments made before God get thrown to the wind, along with the security and hearts of little children caught in the middle. This is not to say that there aren’t often good reasons for divorce, but I’ve picked up enough pieces of people’s lives to know that most of the time, things could have worked out except one or the other bought into the lie that someone better lay in another’s bed.

“Keep your original commitment” meant there were plenty of options I didn’t have to waste time and energy trying to decide. The choice had already been made; life is simpler and happier because of mom’s advice. So mom, thank you. Linda thanks you, as do our children and grandchildren. That one piece of advice has made a difference in all our lives.