Today is Mother’s Day. To all the mom’s out there, I want to say thank you for being such a strong support to your children. It is a blessing to see mom’s everywhere love on the children in their lives.

In particular, I want to praise my own Mom and call her blessed. She is such an inspiration to me and the many lessons I’ve learned from her single-handedly have been pretty spectacular.

So today, the blog re-post is about my Mom. Have a blessed day and a happy mother’s day.

Mom’s Day

Several years ago, Mom published a cook book of her many delicious recipes with some wonderful stories. She asked each of her children to write a little bit for the forward. My first draft was rejected by Mom (and I’ve come to learn that it was the easiest rejection of my writing to date)…the second draft was accepted.

I’d like to share my first draft with you today. I pray that you will be able to see the wonderful woman she is through my words.

My Mom is a balcony person in my life. What is balcony person? They are the people in your life who are always on your side. They will cheer you on when no one else seems to. They believe in you and they see the vision of what God made you to be.

Mom sacrificed so that I could take voice lessons in high school because she thought I had a good voice and that voice lessons would make my voice great. Mom sold a set of silver salt and pepper shakers when I became engaged so that I could buy the wedding dress she knew I’d look stunning in.

My children know that Grandma is on their side as well. She’s the one who spent hours with Philip helping him to find a job and encouraged him to keep looking.

She was at as many of Candace’s high school dramas that she could attend and really enjoyed each one!

Mom was thrilled about her grandchild’s (Bethany) elopement and the birth of her first great-grandchild, Joy. Even more by the birth of her second great-grandchild, Percy. (UPDATE: She has a third great-grandchild, Leslieanna and a fourth on the way!)

Mom has always said that her grandchildren have a safe haven at her home.

When we are with Mom, we may not always hear what we want to hear, but that’s another characteristic of a balcony person. They believe and expect you can change. They don’t believe that what you were yesterday will hinder you from being what you are today or what you can become tomorrow.

Mom has held the standard high for me and that’s okay. She’s also taught me how to be a balcony person for my own children and grandchildren. I know first-hand how much it means to be an encourager to my children.

We see a glimpse of the ultimate encourager in the Bible, Barnabas. Barnabas had God’s heart for people. He sold property to help those in need, he accepted Paul for who he was, and encouraged the church leaders to accept Paul as well.

Barnabas embraced Gentile believers and encouraged them to continue to seek God’s grace. Barnabas was willing go to bat for a young man that Paul didn’t believe was suitable to be a traveling companion.

Barnabas had a gift. The gift to encourage anyone who crossed his path, regardless of who they were.

The lesson we can learn from Barnabas and Mom is that everyone needs encouragement. Everyone needs a balcony person. Don’t pass up an opportunity to let someone know how much they mean to you and to God.

Grace and peace be yours in abundance,

Donna