Thank You Mother

"... Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I will depart." Job 1:21

 

In 1872 Julia Ward Howe, women's suffrage leader and author of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic"  made the first suggestion for Mother's Day. She wanted it to be a day dedicated to peace and to be celebrated on June 2. Ms Howe never saw her suggestion come to fruition. Several attempts were made later in the 1880s and 1890s but , again, never got anywhere. Then in 1908, Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia comes along and begins campaigning for a national observance of Mother's Day to be the second Sunday in May. She didn't give up and finally in 1914 or 1915, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mother's Day as an annual national observance.

But, to Anna Jarvis's dismay the proclaimed Mother's Day became so commercialized that she campaigned against it. To this day, Mother's Day is one of the biggest days for sales of flowers and greeting cards. It is the most used day for long distance telephone calls.

Regardless of it's value to business it is still a day of giving thanks to Mothers. It is a day to stop and remember all of the gifts of life that she so willingly gave so our steps may be a little easier.

I am inserting this poem here for all of us that have lost our Mother:

"What a Friend We Have In Mother"

What a friend we have in Mother, Who will all our secrets share.

We should never keep things from her,Tell her all and she'll be there.

Oh, what tender love she gives us, When in sorrow or despair.

Tell her gently, whisper softly, she will listen, she'll be there.

Day by day as she grows older, she's the nation's guiding star.

Don't forget the prayers she taught you, you will need them where you are.

Though her hair has turned to silver, send her flowers sweet and fair.

Drop a card or send a letter, she'll be waiting, she'll be there.

When her eyes have closed to slumber, gently kiss he icy brow.

Fold he hands upon her bosom, she will rest in heaven now.

When your days are dark and dreary, and your cross is hard to bear.

Do not let your memory fail you, think of Mother, she'll be there.

"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavour by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts." - Inspirational sayings by Washington Irving

As simple and little as it may seem the words "Thank you Mother" are never heard with deaf ears.