The fourth major thing that I want to imitate in my mother’s example is selflessness. Dying to self is something which she exemplified with small children, then with a house full of teenagers, now with grandchildren, and always with a busy husband.

Growing up, this seemed so normal that I did not even think about it. But living away from home and having my own family has made me realize how much my mother prioritized the needs of others around her, putting her own last. Continue reading →

The third main thing I’m thankful for in my mother’s example is her attitude to stuff – money, clothes, things. Her two-fold approach to material stuff had powerful spiritual consequences.

My mother took care of the things God had given her, and taught us to do the same. She used money frugally. She cleaned the house. She washed our clothes (especially working on all the grass and mud stains). She dusted picture frames, polished stuff, and generally took very good care of everything. She taught us that since God had given us this stuff, we needed to not only take care of it and make it last, but also use it in ways that blessed others. Continue reading →

The second thing I’m thankful for in my mother’s example is how she catechized us. Every evening during family worship, my father quizzed us on our catechism, also writing a Sunday School curriculum which eventually became a book.

But during the day, my mother was working on it. Continue reading →

“We all become our mothers,” an elderly pastor’s wife told me recently, “So decide what you want to imitate so that you are doing it consciously, and leaving out any bad!” I can and will spend a lifetime imitating my mother’s amazing example. But mulling over it, five aspects of her mothering stood out as major ones which have been immensely helpful to my spiritual development, and which I still draw from today. They are practices I certainly want to imitate and have my children benefit from. Continue reading →