June 1 – “Mommy still loves me”

Well, I guess my Mommy still loves me.  Last night I was working on some stuff in the garage.  She came out to "check on me" a few times, but the one that cracked me up happened around 9:30.  She came out again and said, "It's 9:30."  I said, "OK," and continued working .  She then said, "It's dark outside."  That's when I knew something was up.  The garage door was open, so I could see that it was dark outside.  But I didn't say any of the smart-aleck comments that immediately leapt into my mind.  I simply said, "Thanks for the update," and went back to my task.  She stood there for several minutes, not saying anything.  Finally, she blurted, "It's time for you to come inside now."  I have to be honest here.  At that point a major struggle welled up within me between the 56 year-old pastor with the mother who is so proud of him and a little ten year-old who wasn't ready to stop playing baseball, take a bath, and go to bed because he had school tomorrow.  The little boy in me took over.  I didn't get hateful or anything like that.  In fact I actually laughed out loud just a bit before I responded.  But out it came, before I could stop it.  "But I am inside."  Now doesn't that sound like the whining logic of a little kid?  She sputtered and stammered for a second or two.  And in those moments I regained my mature, loving son, old man  composure.  I quickly drew her into the world of my project.  I started explaining to her what I was doing and why it had to get done tonight.  It was just the "out" she needed, because she then said, "Oh.  I didn't know that's what you were doing.  Well, I'm going back inside now."  She did come out one more time after that.  She wanted to give me an update on the score of a college baseball game she had found.  A&M was playing somebody and the score was 3 to 3 in the 10th inning.  That sounded exciting.  And as it turned out, I was almost finished anyway.  By the time I got everything put away and got cleaned up, the Aggies had defeated Baylor on a walk-off home run to win the Big 12 tournament.  Mom ended up staying up "with me" until after the ten o'clock news.  I guess she didn't want me to be lonely with Chris gone to her Mom's.  My Mommy still loves me.   Proverbs 23:25 says, "May your father and mother be glad; may she who gave you birth rejoice!"   Father, thank you for my Mom.  Help me see to it that she has reason to rejoice about having me for a son.  Amen.