T is for the Tears

Mrs. Oden stood behind the piano with one hand on the keys and the other up where all her sixth grade students could see as she directed us in music class.  She taught her students from the time we entered the room and took our seats until the time we lined up to return to our classroom. She taught us all the classic holiday songs.

One of those songs has been going through my mind the last week or so. You will probably remember it.

M is for the million things she gave me
O means only that she's growing old :(
T is for the tears she shed to save me
H is for her heart of purest gold
E is for her eyes, the love-light shining
R is right and right she'll always be

Put them all together they spell MOTHER
The word that means the world to me.

It's kind of a funny song to me now. "A million things" seems like a stretch. I know I'm growing old, I really don't want to be sung to about it. The next part is where I've been stuck the last few days: "the tears she shed to save me". We probably never really thought about what we were singing when we were 12 years old. Save from what?

Now that I'm a mom and think back to the times when I was brought to tears for the sake of my children, I can see how that phrase can apply. Save them from everything. There have been times of weeping over physical things, but many more times of weeping over spiritual things. I don't know this for a fact, but I kind of think that all those tears will go into that bottle talked about in Psalm 66. Then my mind keeps going and I think that maybe they those tears are the precious stones that will be poured out of that bottle and stacked up with the gold, silver, wood, hay, and straw that will be tested by fire when I stand in front of my Jesus. If I don't shed tears of joy, of frustration, of petition for my kids, there may not be any shed. I believe there is power in those prayers that are poured out from our hearts like that.

Tonight I went through 16 dozen roses and took the thorns off before we give them to our moms tomorrow. One thing I noticed is that the ones that smelled the best had the most thorns. Interesting, huh?

To Kyle, Adam, Kayla, Hannah, Leah, and Rachel: I'm so very proud to be your mom. I love you more than life.
To Jade, Kevin, and Amber: even though I didn't give birth to you, I pray for you as if I did. I love you that much.
To Eli: you are amazing. Lollie loves you Baby.

I'm so grateful I have something to cry about.