Word for the day by Christian Education Forum
Oh Mother, Your Beauty
Rev. Abraham Kuruvilla
Princeton
Theological Seminary, NJ
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a
woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
In the past one year during my stay in the U. S. A, I have been totally amazed at the beauty of this country. Oh yes, this country is beautiful for the lush green meadows that we find almost everywhere, this country is beautiful for the flowers and color-filled spring season that we are witnessing right now. This country is beautiful for their adherence to the law of the land and the promptness of staying in the lane while driving. This country is beautiful for the tall skyscrapers and the enigmatic bridges that stand testimony to the human possibilities. Oh yes!! These are all beautiful, but the beauty that I am speaking about has nothing to do with all these.
The beauty that I am amazed by is the beauty of the mothers of our home who came many years ago to this land and had to work their way up amidst the pain and toil of daily life. That requires strength (vs 25). Strength is inbuilt and she, our mother, was strong, even when she was sick she went to work in the snow, stamping her feet in the snow, each and every stamp resounding with the desire to go back home. She however, was strong and worked because you my child were before her eyes. The mothers who faced a cultural shock in terms of the language, the people and lots of others things. Yet she spoke with wisdom (vs 26) for true wisdom is the quality of being wise not externally but internally. True wisdom is the soundness we exhibit in our mind and heart.
Yes, you and I can find all the Malayalam ‘slang’ endings in our mother’s English, which lacks all the conjunctions and grammar that English requires, but she, this mother, brought us up in the language of wisdom, the language of experience. The mothers who worked two or three jobs or different shifts to meet the ends and also sent some savings back home. That is dignity for it evokes respect and honor (vs 25). She did not eat the “bread of idleness” (vs 27) but ate hard earned bread. Bread that slowly became a bread of despair and disdain for want of children to be around to eat with her.
What value is bread if there are no loved ones to eat with? Oh children, look up from yourselves and to your mother, for your mother wants to be with you. Will you call her blessed, will you praise her oh husband of your wife? (Vs 28). The mothers who cried in their heart when they saw their children growing up not knowing their mother tongue, but still consoling in their hearts that their child is able to blend with the people of the land. Yet she, our mother, was noble, for she feared the Lord (vs 29). For in that fear is a beauty formed. It is a beauty that is more than the flower-filled spring moments of today, it is a beauty that is taller than the tallest skyscrapers and the longest bridge. This is the beauty that is wrought in pain. This is the beauty of the cross. This mother’s day let us embrace that beauty.
In the past one year during my stay in the U. S. A, I have been totally amazed at the beauty of this country. Oh yes, this country is beautiful for the lush green meadows that we find almost everywhere, this country is beautiful for the flowers and color-filled spring season that we are witnessing right now. This country is beautiful for their adherence to the law of the land and the promptness of staying in the lane while driving. This country is beautiful for the tall skyscrapers and the enigmatic bridges that stand testimony to the human possibilities. Oh yes!! These are all beautiful, but the beauty that I am speaking about has nothing to do with all these.
The beauty that I am amazed by is the beauty of the mothers of our home who came many years ago to this land and had to work their way up amidst the pain and toil of daily life. That requires strength (vs 25). Strength is inbuilt and she, our mother, was strong, even when she was sick she went to work in the snow, stamping her feet in the snow, each and every stamp resounding with the desire to go back home. She however, was strong and worked because you my child were before her eyes. The mothers who faced a cultural shock in terms of the language, the people and lots of others things. Yet she spoke with wisdom (vs 26) for true wisdom is the quality of being wise not externally but internally. True wisdom is the soundness we exhibit in our mind and heart.
Yes, you and I can find all the Malayalam ‘slang’ endings in our mother’s English, which lacks all the conjunctions and grammar that English requires, but she, this mother, brought us up in the language of wisdom, the language of experience. The mothers who worked two or three jobs or different shifts to meet the ends and also sent some savings back home. That is dignity for it evokes respect and honor (vs 25). She did not eat the “bread of idleness” (vs 27) but ate hard earned bread. Bread that slowly became a bread of despair and disdain for want of children to be around to eat with her.
What value is bread if there are no loved ones to eat with? Oh children, look up from yourselves and to your mother, for your mother wants to be with you. Will you call her blessed, will you praise her oh husband of your wife? (Vs 28). The mothers who cried in their heart when they saw their children growing up not knowing their mother tongue, but still consoling in their hearts that their child is able to blend with the people of the land. Yet she, our mother, was noble, for she feared the Lord (vs 29). For in that fear is a beauty formed. It is a beauty that is more than the flower-filled spring moments of today, it is a beauty that is taller than the tallest skyscrapers and the longest bridge. This is the beauty that is wrought in pain. This is the beauty of the cross. This mother’s day let us embrace that beauty.
PRAYER
Lord help me to look at what I cannot see,
Help me to listen to what I cannot hear,
Help me to feel what I cannot understand,
Help me to perceive what I cannot foresee,
Help me to witness the beauty of my mother. Amen
Help me to listen to what I cannot hear,
Help me to feel what I cannot understand,
Help me to perceive what I cannot foresee,
Help me to witness the beauty of my mother. Amen
THOUGHT
FOR THE DAY:
BEAUTY OF OUR MOTHER IS A BEAUTY ENGRAVED IN LIFE
BEAUTY OF OUR MOTHER IS A BEAUTY ENGRAVED IN LIFE