Living On The Edge...Loving Relentlessly

Like Mother, Like Daughter

dancingdreamer | May 09, 2009 23:14

I am becoming my mother, and my daughter is becoming me. As many times as I’ve heard the old saying, “The apple doesn’t fall far from the tree” ...I never really saw the real truth in this until recently.

I have always wanted to be like my mother for as long as I can remember. She is the epitome of “Beauty” in every sense of the word. When I was a little girl everyone told me I looked like my father. I liked being told that I looked like my daddy. But deep in my soul, I wanted to hear that I looked like my mother. Her stunning, physical beauty was something I admired about her. Her radiant glow was something I desired to have. I remember the day that someone first told me I looked like my mother. I was about 30 years old. I was visiting the town where my mother grew up. In a restaurant a man approached me, saying he knew who I was only because I looked just like his high school friend, Nancy (my mother). From that day on, people began telling me I looked like my mother. I gleamed as I realized the beauty my mother possessed had blossomed out of me. And I realized that her outward beauty was magnified by the deep beauty within her soul.

Anyone who knows my mother, knows why I have always wanted to be like her. During the hardest of seasons, my mother was the wind beneath my wings. She taught me the most valuable lessons of my life. Today, I am remembering the years after my dad divorced my mother and how we were left with barely enough money to make ends meet. I truly believe it is what I witnessed during those years that made me the woman I am today. What stands out in my mind the most is how my mom depended on God. I saw a hurting woman turn to Jesus for her every need. She was a young, beautiful woman. She could easily have turned to other men in her desperation. But I watched her closely as she sought God. Most importantly, I watched how a woman’s passionate love for God could make a bad situation turn into something good.

My mother was the first person I ever saw fall deeply in love with God. Since she no longer had a husband, she depended on God for everything. I can still picture my mom sitting with her Bible. She was always seeking to know God better. Her life was a true testament of the goodness of God. Her love for God was evident by the fruit in her life. I saw the fruit of the Spirit lived before me in my own house. I saw a woman giving sacrificially, like no other person in my life. One time, she literally gave away the jacket on her back. It was her favorite jacket, one she wore all the time. She gave it to a young teenage girl because the Lord had asked her to. In that moment, I remember thinking, “I want to be like my Mama.”

I also give my mother credit for exemplifying that following Christ can be a great adventure! Shortly after my dad left, my mom bought a special ring. She beamed as she would share the story about it. It was a ring that told the story of her heart – the story of the adventure that God had swept her up into. From the side, the ring looked like a roller coaster, symbolizing the excitement of following God. From the top, it looked like a music note, symbolizing the beauty God was creating in her life. She wore the ring as a symbol of her commitment to God, and His commitment to her…it was the first time I saw how God personalizes our ties to Him.

In a nutshell, the way my mother reacted to the pain in her life was teaching me a life lesson that would stay with me forever. I learned from my mother to see the best in everything. I learned from my mother how to be an over-comer, how to live life to the fullest in the midst of suffering. I learned from my mother how to see God in every situation, how He rescues us in times of need. I learned from my mother to give from the heart, how to give until there’s nothing left to give.

Most important of all, I learned from my mother how to be a good mother. My daughter’s heart is living proof of this. Several weeks ago, my daughter, Christa, sent me a paper she had written for her Religion class at college. She asked me to help her proofread it. I began reading it, and within the first paragraph the tears began to flow. For the first time I realized the lessons I had learned from my mother, the message of my soul, had taken root in Christa’s young heart. It’s hard to describe what reading my daughter’s words did for me as a mother. Every desire of my heart as a mother was fulfilled in the moments of reading her college paper. I could have never dreamed that my nineteen year old daughter had grasped onto wisdom that had taken me close to 30 years to latch onto. The life message God has placed in me – the message of hope and love, of living life to the fullest has been instilled in my daughter’s heart. She gets it and she’s only 19 years old. My heart is overflowing with joy and relief to know my first-born child, my daughter has found the key to a well-lived life. A mother couldn't ask for more!

Christa was given an assignment to watch a video called, “Teenage Affluenza is spreading fast.” Then she was asked to write a paper describing her thoughts of the video. See my link section to watch the video.

Below is the rough draft of her paper:

Give Until There is Nothing Left to Give

Throughout my life, my family has never had an exuberate amount. We have always struggled financially, and I never have felt the financial security that many of my friends have experienced. My house is around twenty years old, my family never had the extra money for entertainment purposes, when I got older I had to buy my own clothes, I watched our refrigerator go empty for days, my car had no air conditioning and I always saw the worst of things. I could never see the best in anything and it was something I struggled with and still struggle with until this day. My hero, my role model, my mother always told me to see the best in everything, more specifically: “Things could be worse”. But as I grew up stubborn, I could not understand this concept. Like a typical American teenager, the superficial was more important to me than the life I had, the life I was given to live. This satirical video shows us the meaning of living. We live our life in a routine: sleep, eat, school, homework, work, eat, and sleep. But I always used to question, what more do we have to live for?

We see three different underlying aspects of this video. First, we see that we always need to be thankful for what we have. So much of this world is so spoiled that we never see the pain that so many people go through in third-world countries and even in our own cities. Second, we need to live for more. As said before, this life is more than just a day to day routine. Proverbs 1:22 says: “How long will you simple ones love simplicity, you scoffers be eager to scoff, you dullards hate knowledge?” This verse shows us that we need to live for more than just what is in front of us; the simple life is not what we are supposed to be pursuing. We see all throughout the Hebrew Bible that we need to pursue a Holy life for Jesus. Third, we need to live a life with a servant’s heart. Exodus 23:25 says, “You shall serve the Lord your God…” I believe this video shows us we need to do more than just play video games or watch television: we need to give to other people until there is nothing left to give.

Since the eleventh grade, when I got involved with my youth group, my view began to change of the world. I no longer just wanted to live life for fun, I wanted to make a difference – change what I see corrupted in our society. Gandhi once said, “You must be the change in the world you wish to see” and this video simply implies this message in its five minutes of time. I know that from videos like these, from news reports, and from reading about the suffering that happens all over the world, it makes me want to learn to be more appreciative of everything I have. Psalm 107:8 says, “Let them praise the Lord for his steadfast love, His wondrous deeds for mankind”. We can see the Hands of God in anything and everything and this is when we need to spread love, give thanks, and live life to the fullest. Isaiah 58 embeds the true idea of this video as well. Isaiah 58:7 says, “It is to share your bread with the hungry, and to take the wretched poor into your home; when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to ignore your own kin”. The wisdom from this verse shows us we need to give to our own brothers and sisters in Christ and that we are meant to live for so much more. This video says to me that we need to give more of our lives to others, and this action will be able to show Christ’s true love.

Ezekiel 16:44 (NIV)

Everyone who quotes proverbs will quote this proverb about you: "Like Mother, like daughter."