This is what the world needs

She was the high school valedictorian with scholarships that covered her studies at Clemson University.  She got her college degree in two foreign languages.  She is perfectionist in everything she does, an iron will with a soft touch, a peacemaker.  She is there at the last minute to add the finishing details that make a project shine.

And God made her my mother... one so amazing that words aren't adequate.  The world needs more women like her.

The word "mama" sounds a bit like mammal: a creature that nurses its young and rears it through close contact.  A mama is a hands-on nurturer of her children.

When a woman follows her natural instincts and chooses to be a hands-on mother to her children, she is acknowledging the godly wisdom that is this: the future depends on motherhood.  There are plenty of people in the world who can speak three languages, make peace, and lend their intelligence to a situation.  But my mama realized that no one could be the mother that she could be, and assumed the responsibility to be, to her children.  I and my siblings are the beneficiaries of this wisdom.  It's a paradox to the modern world, that a woman could be possessed of such abilities-- and yet, choose to stay home to raise her children.  She understood that the world doesn't need these talents; her children need her.

And in a time of her life when she could be resting and enjoying her garden, mama is still mothering.  My nephews who don't have a mother, and my grandmother who needs someone to keep a constant eye on her.  Mama's influence and sacrifice now extend beyond the four children that she raised.

How can you help but "arise up, and call her blessed;"?  A mother's children are a blessing to her; and when the children have their own children, they look back and realize the struggles and grace that got them to adulthood, and they call that precious mother "blessed."

Indeed, she is.

 My mama holding Tater on the day he was born