One morning while brushing my teeth, I looked up and saw my mother staring back at me in the mirror. I was so startled I swallowed some toothpaste. How could this be? With haste, I ran into my bedroom and the sight of what I found stopped me dead in my tracks: the full length mirror. I squinted hard and ever so gingerly I turned around.
There it was…right there in front of me…well, behind me really. My mother’s butt! When I was 11 years old, I distinctly remember making a pact with myself that I would never become my mother. I vowed never to wear comfortable shoes, lose touch with the top 40, or embarrass my daughter by asking her friends silly questions.
Yet, there I stood in comfortable shoes, unable to name one pop tune to save my life and about to ask my daughter’s friend if her mother will be home while my daughter visits. I look to the left and see my 11 year old daughter standing next to me. I can tell she is making the same vow that I once did.
Helpless to stop the giggle from becoming audible, I think of the day my daughter will look in the mirror and see me staring back at her. As I recovered from the shock of this event, I realized there is a lesson to be learned in all of this. A mother’s influence lasts a lifetime. If we will one day become our mothers, then one day our daughters will become us!
What will our daughter’s see in that mirror looking back at them? A day should never pass when we forget that we are not only influencing our daughters but our granddaughters and great granddaughters. We are forming a legacy of the women in our family through our words and actions. What is the legacy of the women in your family? We need to be careful to speak God’s Word and show God’s love, mercy and forgiveness.
Memory Verse:
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.”
-Proverbs 25:11 (KJV)
Prayer Prompt:
“Dear Heavenly Father, please grant us the wisdom to use every word from our mouths and every action of our hands to profit the children You gave us charge over. Allow us the foresight to raise children infused with Your love and filled with Your Word so they become Your grateful servants….”
Contributing Writer:
Richele McFarlin
Oh, Thank you for the memories…I too vowed not to become my mother when I was younger. Now that I’m 45 I think she’s a pretty cool G’ma. I’m so thankful we share our faith now.
Richele, I smiled as I read your words. It’s funny how things we never thought we would be caught doing has a way of seeping into our actions as we age. I often tease my sister just how much she sounds like our mom when she’s talking to her children.