It’s Mother’s Day. My mom’s last. My daughter-in-love’s first. A life cycle moment. Full circle. As a woman of faith, Mom dedicated us to the Lord as babies. Mom and Dad agreed to raise us with the love of God as their guiding force. I, in turn, did the same for each of our own children. Today, my own son and his wife dedicated my grandson, Shepherd. As I sat, listening to the prayers prayed over him, it took me back to when I was the one holding the baby promising to love unconditionally, to faithfully guide my children, to introduce them to Jesus, to teach them character, forgiveness, and hope, and to trust them to God in every circumstance.

Of course, you know it brought tears to my eyes. My children are grown now. They have each found their own lives. We did the best we could to raise them according to the promises we made to God; continuously handing them over to him. Hearing these words again, while sitting among some of my kids, had me reminiscing. Thinking back to when they were young. Thinking about how they have grown differently than my expectations, but better than I could have imagined. God did that. Faithful as always.

When I was a young mom I believed if I parented a certain way, my kids would turn out a certain way. As my kids aged, I found that they had their own ideas. Some of those didn’t match up with mine. But God, in his direct way, reminded me he wasn’t making them in my image. Ha! He also asked me if believed the words I had said at baby dedication about trusting him with my kids. Ugh! He is so good at showing my when my actions and words do not match!

I am thinking about my own mom this year, and how she had to learn the same lesson when we were growing up, I can see her attempts to trust God with us…with me specifically. I admire her wisdom learned by years of being on her knees for her kids. Today, I sat by her bed and thanked her for being my mom. I told her I wanted her to know how much I loved having her as my mom and that she did a good job. She smiled and babbled a little. I leaned over to kiss her forehead and she puckered up for a kiss. She hasn’t done that to me in years. It was a Mother’s Day gift. I gave her a kiss and she laughed. She looked at me directly with her one open eye. I told her she was a great mom…just the one I needed.

It was a moment. Her last Mother’s Day, but I wanted her to know how grateful I am to have had her in my life for so long. She is leaving a spiritual legacy, which I saw today. Her faith, which came from her own mother, passed down from generation to generation. Grandmother > mother > daughter > son > grandson…and so it goes. The faithfulness of God on display to remind us he is worthy of our trust. On Mother’s Day, and every day, it is safe to open our hands and give him our kids! Mom gets to open her hand one last time…