Mother's Prayer

This post is under the "Weapons" tab because I believe that it is one of the most powerful weapons we could have in our arsenal. This will be the first in a series of different types of mother's prayers. I believe that the role of motherhood is under valued and deserves to be talked about. Ubiety is who you are, where you are. It is just being you. 

I was the oldest of 8 children. My folks owned and operated a ditch digging company and installed sewer systems. On a side note, I went to a Catholic school and remember the nuns telling us that we need to study hard so that we wouldn't grow up to be ditch diggers. They had us fill out a paper for our parents to write what they did. You guessed it, Dad wrote "Ditch Digger." To make it even more embarrassing, they bought a Roto-Rooter franchise when I was 12 and changed answer on the form to "sewer cleaner."

Back to mom. She was the dispatcher. They ran the business from the house. She loved dispatching, aka bossing everyone around. I remember a cartoon depicting a young woman with a baby in her harms, a child pulling on her skirt, cooking over a stove with a ladle in one hand and a two-way radio mike in the other. She was shouting, "Just do the damn job!" That was my mom. She also dispatched the kids with the disposition of a basic-training army sergeant. When we were done playing, the toys were put away or they were thrown away. But when it came to protecting one of her own, you didn't dare attack one of her cubs. She made all of our clothes, which we all preferred over store bought. She ran the sewing machine like a race car and would flatten the foot petal and tear across the pattern like nobody's business. 

When I was around 9 or 10, we didn't have a car. We had an orange and black Dodge 49 pickup with our company name, Farmer Harter & Farmer Digging Service on the doors. We usually walked to school which was only about a half mile. It must have been quite a sight when we went somewhere as a family - at that time there were 7 children. Dad drove, I sat next to him with the gear shift between my legs, mom by the door. Not sure where the other kids were, but we all fit in the cab, of course everyone had a car seat and seat belts. 

I remember going with mom on some errands that she needed to do downtown when dad had the truck. We walked to the bus stop near the school and took the bus downtown. Mom did her thing and then it started raining. We went into a Five and Dime store to wait it out. I saw a toy that I wanted and asked mom if we could get it. To my surprise, she bought it for me. The rain stopped and just as we started to leave the store, a neighbor saw us and offered us a lift home. Shortly before she died, mom told me that she only had enough money for the bus ride home and she believed that God would provide a way home for us. 

I have so many memories of prayers that she offered. Some too personal to write about. With 8 children, there were lots of time for prayer. One more memory in this segment: Houses were being built around our neighborhood and the basements produced great mounds of dirt. The neighbor boys congregated and we were throwing clods of dirt at each other. I got hit in the eye and with blood streaming from my eye, mom drove me to the hospital. The doctor said that I would probably lose sight in that eye. Mom prayed. That eye sees better than my other eye, even 60 years later. 

My wife of 54 years has many of the same attributes and is the one our daughters call for prayer. There isn't anything that's better than knowing your mom or your wife has your six.

My favorite singer is JJ Heller. Her voice calms me and her songs encourage me. I keep this song handy. The goal of every mother is to provide roots - a strong foundation and wings - the ability to soar. Are you a mom who needs a little encouragement or a child who is thinking about your mom? Give it a listen.