As a young child, I would save up part of my allowance each week so that when Mother’s Day rolled around I could spend weeks window shopping. At the corner of our street there was a jewelry store. I would go in and negotiate with the owner to purchase the perfect Mother’s Day gift. Later in life I came to appreciate the salesperson who always found the perfect piece of costume jewelry – earrings or necklace – that just happened to be on sale for the amount of money I had in my hand. My mother wore whatever was given (no matter how gaudy) and exclaimed how much she loved the gift. I never really appreciated her enthusiasm until after her death. I was sorting through her belongings when I came upon her jewelry box, and lo and behold there were all of the bobbles from so many years ago. As I picked up each one I could recollect every single Mother’s Day.
This journey down memory lane reinforced for me that it is not the gift, but the love shared between the giver and the gifted. Many times this is the relationship between us and our God. We seem to give so little – God accepts so graciously and lovingly. What are, and have been, the “bobbles” of our giving? We need to move from costume jewelry to the real thing. As we move through the Easter season, Jesus, the real gift, leads us.
On Mother’s Day, let us remember and give thanks for the gift of our mothers, living and deceased.
Barbara Vaughan, CSJ