Here I sit at my daughter’s bedside as she heals from open heart surgery. Tomorrow is Mother’s Day...my first official Mother’s Day. I will be here, in the hospital, watching Melody as her heart heals. And I am infinitely proud to be here with my daughter on this Mother’s Day. I don’t need flowers, or a card, or a piece of jewelry. I can’t think of a more appropriate activity to be participating in on this holiday....caring for the one who has made me a mom.
If you’ve read any of my blogs, you’ve discovered that I can find an analogy, a metaphor, in just about any life event. This event has been no different. Right now, I’m literally caring for my daughter’s heart. Watching the nurses, learning about the drugs they’re giving my girl. Sometimes, treatment is uncomfortable, even painful for her. But in the end, it is for her good. I am always conscious of her condition, looking for signs of infection.
And I’m realizing that as a parent, I should figuratively care for my daughter’s heart as well. The first words of the Hebrew Bible read: “Hear, O Israel! The LORD is our God, the LORD is one! You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. These words, which I am commanding you today, shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your sons and shall talk of them when you sit in your house and when you walk by the way and when you lie down and when you rise up. That is serious stuff. I know I must make an effort to intentionally live a life of purpose, especially in front of my child. Her heart should be of paramount importance to me. I must be consciously aware, looking for signs of proverbial infection. When she becomes a toddler, a child, an adolescent, I know there will be times when I must discipline her, and that it will be uncomfortable and painful for the both of us. But I, as her mother, must guard her heart, and ask that my Father opens the eyes of her little heart, and that she would love Him with every fiber of her being.
A very Happy Mother’s Day to each of you who have given yourself to this purpose: “Love the Lord your God with all your hear and with all your soul and with all your might...Teach (His commands) diligently to your sons (and daughters).”
