I Have A Good Mother

I thought I should talk about my mother as tomorrow is Mother's Day.

Judy Kirk has been my mother these 32 years. She didn't actually start out to become a mother when she and my dad were first married. In the early 70's, she was a nurse fresh out of school and had recently seen her mother and father succumb to cancer. She saw a lot wrong with an over-populated world and thought that it would be extremely unfair to bring another child into it to experience pain and suffering.

But, in 1973, she had a life-changing experience of meeting Jesus Christ and her whole worldview changed.

In 1975, she gave birth to yours truly and named me Samuel. My mom had had a very vivid experience of being drawn to read the book of 1 Samuel and the account of Hannah naming her child and giving the long-awaited baby to the service of her God. She named me Samuel in the promise of giving me to God.

My mother was tough, but fair. She made all sorts of mistakes with me, but she never once let me down. I think I turned out pretty well. Although, she certainly had her hands full with my sister... but she's turned out very well, too.

Judy has this really offbeat sense of humour which seems to have been passed on to me and Jen. She's quick with a joke and loves to laugh at herself. But, she's not cruel. Not one bit.

She cares about those around her. She sees all sorts of pain in her work in a doctor's office, but she also gets to see many of them become well. She sees the hurt and the broken become transformed into the whole. In her spiritual life, she also has striven to see the spiritual and emotionally broken become healthy again and she has a righteous anger about those who don't strive to see the same thing in those around them.

My mom has walked with me through some very hard personal times. Not mollycoddling me. She challenges me when I'm trying to take the easy road of avoidance. But, she's always there to give the advice that comes from being on this earth for a long time.

My mother has come a long way from the time when she felt that she had nothing to offer children but a life of pain and suffering. She has loved her children unconditionally and seen them grow into adults that are very much like her -- and that's a good thing.

She should be proud of what she has accomplished in her years of mothering. I could never imagine having anyone else that I would want to bestow the name and love that a child gives to the woman who bore him. I'm proud of the mother, and now friend, that God gave me all those years ago.

Mom, I love you. Thank you for all you are.