My Mother's Songs

Colossians 3:16
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.

Even now as I close my eyes I can see my mother standing at the kitchen sink washing dishes. Routinely she washes and rinses, but all the while she sings. Rock of Ages . . . Abide With Me . . . His Eye Is On the Sparrow . . . The Old Rugged Cross . . . The list of songs I learned from her could go on and on. She never sang a solo in church, nor was ever in the choir, but she sang as she worked, as she drove, as she went through her daily routine.

Throughout history we find songs of mothers reflecting the greatness and goodness of God at work in their lives. In Luke 1 we read of Mary’s song of faith, acceptance and praise after learning that she had been chosen to be the mother of the Messiah. Her song looks forward to the work of God in her life and the lives of His people. In the Old Testament, I Samuel 2 records the prayer-song of Hannah as she looks back in praise and worship for the grace of God in granting her deepest desire by giving her a son.

One of my mother’s greatest gifts to me was to teach me, through her example, that the songs of faith and joy will keep your heart and mind steady, even in the tough times. The truths I learned from those hymns carried me through my adolescence and young adulthood and into the later years of my life. They gave, and still give, the gift of hope and comfort.

As my mother was dying she could no longer sing her songs of courage and strength, so I laid my head next to hers on the pillow, and I sang to her. It was my way of giving back to her the gift that she had given to me.

Thank You, Father, for such sweet memories of a mother who loved You. And thank You for the gift of song.

By Ann Shorb
©Copyright Ann Shorb, 2006

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Lessons I Learned from My Dad
Under His Wings
He Calls Me by My Name

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