Disclaimer: If you are reading this and you are not my sons nor my husband then please use caution in following my thoughts. Not everyone thinks of diamonds as just rocks. To use my thoughts in determining your own Mother's Day gift purchase could be hazardous to your health. Please use caution.
What does mom want for Mother's Day?
Flowers wilt and dry out and go into the trash can. If you must purchase flowers please get a plant for the garden.
Diamonds are only rocks. If you want to get me rocks then pick them up while out hiking and hunting and bring them home to me. I love garden rocks much more than diamonds. I have already lost one diamond so if anyone ever gets me another one it has to be large enough to place out in the garden so I don't lose it.
I have all the jewelry I want. The wedding ring that never leaves my finger, the cross necklace that never leaves my neck, a couple of arm baubles and of course my engagement ring that sits in a box with it's gaping hole because the stupid rock fell out! (See! This is proof that I do not need diamonds, unless of course you are buying the garden variety mentioned above).
Chocolate is good but it makes me fat. You may purchase some because I really do love it, but please don't spend a lot. Costco has awesome dark chocolate covered almonds for 10 bucks! A MASSIVE BAG!........to be perfectly honest I do not need any as I have a giant bag in the pantry.
I don't really care for spa days, for me a spa day is soaking in my own tub with Epson salts.
Eating out is nice but sadly everyone and their mother (literally) will be out doing that.....you know how I dislike crowds.
Guns are sweet but in truth I really do not need any, after all you guys have plenty to go around. (Note: I have two guns, one was actually a Mother's Day gift and the other was a Christmas present!)
Books are awesome but you all know I have too many of those already although it has always been my belief that you can never have too many books.
Dogs are the best! But when the time comes I will pick my own.........and luvie, remember that you can never have too many dogs either......no idea why people thing diamonds are a girl's best friend.
So what is it that mom wants most for Mother's Day?
She wants to see your smiles.
She wants to feel your hugs.
She wants to hear your laughter.
She wants to know that you are okay.
She wants you to be as safe as God allows (cause she knows sometimes God calls us to unsafe things).
But most of all, more than anything else, more than all the gifts that could be given, she wants you to know and follow King Jesus.
"This is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent."
"but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ To Him be the glory, both now and to the day of eternity. Amen. "
"By this we know that we have come to know Him, if we keep His commandments."
"to know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death,"
In knowing Him there is assurance of all things that a mother most worries about for her children. In knowing Him there is peace, in knowing Him there is a sense of having accomplished the purpose for which He called me to be a mother.
"He will not let your foot be moved;
he who keeps you will not slumber.
Behold, he who keeps Israel
will neither slumber nor sleep.
The Lord is your keeper;
the Lord is your shade on your right hand.
The sun shall not strike you by day,
nor the moon by night.
The Lord will keep you from all evil;
he will keep your life.
The Lord will keep
your going out and your coming in
from this time forth and forevermore."
So please do not rush out buying things just because it is Mother's Day. Just be okay, love God and do your best to follow him. Give me hugs and laugh with me when time and circumstance permit. The greatest gift I have ever been given is the two fine sons I have. They will always be my two greatest Mother's Day gifts. On top of that blessing I have been blessed with a man who is my friend and companion for over 30 years. What more could a woman possibly want or need for Mother's Day.
Being a mom is a calling. I have done many things right, but I have also failed in many things. Fortunately God is a great Redeemer of our failures.
" Live the gospel in the things that no one sees. Sacrifice for your children in places that only they will know about. Put their value ahead of yours. Grow them up in the clean air of gospel living. Your testimony to the gospel in the little details of your life is more valuable to them than you can imagine. If you tell them the gospel, but live to yourself, they will never believe it. Give your life for theirs every day, joyfully. Lay down pettiness. Lay down fussiness. Lay down resentment about the dishes, about the laundry, about how no one knows how hard you work.
Stop clinging to yourself and cling to the cross. There is more joy and more life and more laughter on the other side of death than you can possibly carry alone." From "Motherhood is a Calling, Desiring God.org
He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God.