This Sunday we will celebrate Mother’s day. For years, when it comes to Mother’s Day, we offer a tribute to our moms. And, the normal tribute sometimes is soaked rather heavily in the culture that existed years ago. While that’s o.k., it’s a different world today. More and more moms work outside the home. Very few look like June Cleaver did in “Leave it to Beaver.” So, let’s try to update our Mom’s Day tribute a little. I’m going to use my wife, Holli, as an example.
On school days, she rises every morning at 6:00 a.m. It doesn’t matter if she didn’t get to bed until late because she was washing a baseball uniform or reviewing a test with one of our kids. She’s up at 6 regardless. She makes her bagel and sits down for one of the few quiet moments she will have for the next 16 hours. During this time, Will normally asks, “Mom, what’s the weather like today?” Holli watches the morning news while she is getting ready for work so she knows the forecast. We talk a few minutes and get our plan for the day then, she’s off to work.
She works all day. I work all day. Like many people, we communicate via email, cell phone or text messaging. When the day is done, she has other obligations and in the midst of all that, she tries to figure out what can be done for supper. It’s about this time that we normally talk and sometimes, we will go by the grocery store and grab something we can “nuke” in the microwave or, we go by a local restaurant. Some might say, “Families need to eat together, around the table… etc… I’m sure that’s true and that’s the ideal. But sometimes, in today’s culture, it doesn’t work. So, we make do.
At night, sometimes, it’s tumbling class for Sarah.
At times, it’s been a ball game for Will.
At times, it’s a church event or a school event.
At times, it’s helping one of them with a school project.
When she comes in, she tries to straighten up a little. She is folding clothes, cleaning up a little here and there. If she ever sits down, she is history. It doesn’t take long. She actually slept through LSU’s national championship football game. The boys and I were…. Well… we were loud. But Holli was asleep. She was glad they were winning and that we were happy but she was also enjoying some sleep.
At times, when the boys are out and are coming in late, she sleeps on the sofa waiting for them to come in. She can’t rest well until she knows all her little chicks are home.
On Sunday morning, she sleeps a little longer than normal. Then, she’s up and makes her way to Sunday School. Holli has taught youth Sunday School in just about every church we have served. She has also sung in the choir as often as she can.
In the midst of all this, she tries to take a few minutes for a “quiet time.” Does she get it done every day? Uh… .no… But she does it frequently.
I went into the ministry in 1981. Holli and I married in 1984. In 23 years of marriage, Holli Alice Potts is one of the best people I have ever known. She SELDOM complains. It’s just not in her. She can be stubborn at times. She knows it. But she is solid as a rock. She doesn’t gossip. If you tell her something, it may be safer than it would be at Fort Knox. She is level headed. When I’m wired about something I will normally ask her to help me sort things out and she does. Often bringing up things I hadn’t thought about.
We are very opposite. I’m the hare while she is the tortoise. I’m extroverted and she can be introverted. I’m happy in a roomful of people and she’s content with just me and her.
There is a line in a popular movie where the man expresses his love for the girl by saying, “You complete me.” That’s exactly what Holli does for me. She balances me out.
Holli Alice, I love you. Happy Mother’s Day. Robert, Will and Sarah will rise up and call you “blessed.”