Religion: A Pastor Ponders

Mother of the Year

by Pastor William Jenkins

May 6, 2005

It was a proud moment when all four of our children pooled their energies and entered their mother in a “Mother-of-the-Year” promotion at the local shopping mall. Their entry was judged the best and their mother won! (How could any mother be a looser in such a contest?) Exactly what she won isn’t remembered…probably cosmetics, gift certificates, and some other stuff that has gone the way of all “stuff”. Surviving that event are the letters submitted by the children; letters which revive a precious memory and cause their mother’s heart to glow to this day.

Memories mean the most and things are often an aid to memory.

Drawings from elementary school, craft items with messy fingerprints all over them, the first tooth to fall out, all of these are treasures from her children that a mother lays up in her heart…and in boxes, drawers and closets.

Mothers also deposit treasures in the hearts of their children. My own mother died twenty nine years ago. I thank her for a few choice memories which warm my heart to this day.

A picture of her when she was a teen reminds me how beautiful she was.

The Family Bible reminds me of her efforts to instill in her children faith in God.

Another picture inside the front cover of my black King James Bible lets me take the memory of her into the pulpit with me every Sunday.

My mother wasn’t perfect. Like me, she had her faults and always wished to be better than she was; but she was my mother and that alone is reason enough for me to love her.

In church with his mother one day a small child was fascinated by the stained glass windows. “Who are those people painted on the windows?” the boy asked. “Those are the saints,” his mother replied.

When he went home, the boy told his father that he had seen the saints in church that day. “Who are the saints?” his father asked. The boy replied “There’re the people the light shines through.”

My mother wasn’t perfect, but a whole lot of light did shine through her. God bless mothers everywhere this Mother’s Day…and beyond.

League City United Methodist Church is located at 1411 Main Street (FM 518), one block east of Interstate 45. For information, call the church offices at 281-332-1557 or visit the website at

HYPERLINK - http://www.lcumc.org