My mom would have turned 80 years old today, June 28th, 2021. In honor of that I decided to write a post. While my mom was still living on planet earth, she had a mantra that she lived by, The Good Lord is taking care of me. In all honesty, when she used to spout it, I would inwardly cringe. The Good Lord, Mom, really? It is not that I did not believe in God, nor that I did not believe that he was good. It was mostly because it sounded so folksy, so unsophisticated. She did after all, watch the Hallmark Channel and all kinds of cheesy entertainment such as that.
It is funny how easy it is to judge someone as being simple minded and unsophisticated if you have never lived the life they have. The truth is mom lived by the mantra that the Good Lord was taking care of her because she had a lot she needed taken care of. Growing up, she struggled with all kinds of health problems. Often as a child she was bedridden due to serious kidney infections. As an adult, she was put on dialysis and later received a kidney transplant. In addition, she suffered multiple strokes, was diagnosed with parathyroid cancer and my father divorced her after 30 plus years of marriage. I am not sure after going through all that if I would have maintained my belief that the Good Lord was watching out for me, but Mom did. She maintained it and lived it day in and day out. It was as natural to trust that God is indeed good and Lord at the same time as it is for some people to breathe. To trust that God is both good and Lord were two simple truths that mom clung to until the very day she died in 2011. As a parent, these days, I often wonder what wisdom I can impart to my own children, especially as I watch them struggle and deal with their own burdens. Truth is, I don’t think I have to look too far to pass on some really solid advice. The Good Lord is watching out for us will be the legacy I strive to instill in my kiddos. Not because my mom was so great, though she was, but because that bedrock of faith is the very foundation to build a life upon. A life of simple, straightforward faith. A life of clinging to the God who will never leave us nor forsake us. The Good Lord is taking care of us. Yes, I like it. I think I might just make that my life’s mantra as well. |