Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.
Proverbs 31:30, NIV
In the United States (and many other countries) each May we celebrate Mother’s Day. I was blessed being raised by two mothers: Mama, my biological mother, and Granny, my grandmother.
Mama became a widow early in life and singlehandedly nurtured and provided for three daughters and a son. Being the mother of one son, I can scarcely imagine what life was like for her, especially when we “malfunctioned”! Being a skilled seamstress, she always had us smartly dressed, sometimes using the same fabric for dresses and shirts to economize. She became a culinary magician, stretching and varying the food we had to give us tasty, nutritious meals. We were educated and taught love and respect for God and our elders. Mama was a good and loving mother. However, with time, providing for us became a challenge, and she had to do what many Jamaicans did to better provide for her children: She left the warmth of our beautiful tropical island for the much colder continent. There she went back to school and worked. The mothering baton was temporarily passed to Granny.
Granny did not have to provide for us materially since Mama did; she just loved us. She went to extremes to “make sure that nothing happened” to us. She was calm because she started her day with prayer, covering each family member, friend, stranger, and the island of Jamaica.
I often wonder how I measure up to my two mothers. I believe I have blended traits from both and have adapted various actions and responses appropriate for raising my son. I did not have a manual with his name on it, so I depended heavily on prayers. After thirty-three years, I continue to lift him daily in prayer. Someone once said, “It takes a village to raise a child.” How true! Many times, I sought advice and compared notes in the “village.” I am confident that with God’s help, I have done the best that I could. Mothers in the household of faith, let us don our spiritual armor and unite in continuous prayer for our children, our own as well as others in our “village.” Let us defeat the efforts of Satan in his spiritual warfare to snatch them from the Lord.
Cecelia Grant is a medical doctor retired from government service and living in Kingston Jamaica.
Color My World With Love: ©2021 Pacific Press Publishing Association.