By Reba Phelps

When a young couple is getting married, more times than not, they will have multiple showers or events. When I was getting married I found this very difficult. I didn’t enjoy people staring at me as I opened gifts. I love people but not forty of them all focused on me at the same time.

There were two things that was certain during this time. My mother was present at every event and she loved every minute of it. She truly loved visiting and meeting new people too. The other certain thing was that she would not show up empty handed. She had to bring a gift to each shower. I knew that my parents had a tight budget and my mother had lots of medical bills.

It truly made me feel guilty that she was going to all of this trouble, financially. I would try to talk to my dad and tell him it was unnecessary and he would always have the same reply.

“Have you ever tried to stop Eva Gail from doing something”?

True. There was no stopping her. A wheelchair did not slow her down.

As the wedding date was fast approaching the parties were slowing down. We were down to our last shower and I was down to opening the last gift. It happened to be from my mother. Once I carefully unwrapped the gift, careful not to break a bow, I couldn’t control the water that was leaking from my optical region.

To anyone else in the room, they would assume the wedding stress had finally taken its toll. It merely was a simple hand mixer. I am sure everyone immediately added me to their respective prayer lists at their church as I sat there and cried.

A few months prior to this, my mother and I had a conversation about her own hand mixer. It was down to one whisk. The other one refused to turn as it should. It was completely raggedy and it was mustard yellow in color if that tells you how old it was. But, she refused to replace it until the other whisk had breathed its last breath. My parents were very thrifty and did not make waste of anything that their hands touched.

She always said, “It’s fine, we just have to mix it a little longer.”

When I stared at this shiny and new box that housed a state of the art mixer with multiple speeds all I could see was the sacrifice. Mothers always want more for their own children than they have for themselves. Mothers will always put their children’s needs before their own. It was just almost too much to take in.

Shortly before my mother passed away I treated myself to a Kitchen-Aid stand mixer but still prefer my aging wedding gift from that shower. I think about her and her sacrifices every time I use my little mixer. It was special then and it is special now.

A couple of years ago I found myself in Wal-Mart on Mother’s Day. While I choose to be positive and thankful for the time I had with my mother, it is still a very hard day. I do believe anyone who is missing a parent can relate. While in the parking lot, I ran into a good friend of my moms. She was complaining that her mixer completely died in the middle of baking a cake.

Every time I see this precious lady she always tells me that she see’s my mom in my smile.

I do not believe that it was an accident that I ran into my mom’s friend that day. I also do not believe it was an accident that she mentioned her mixer. I do believe it was to let me know that my mother was also thinking about me on Mother’s Day as well.

A mother’s love is a drop in the ocean compared to the unconditional love that our Father has for us. A mother’s love is an earthly love but our Father’s love is an eternal love. A mother’s love is a sacrificial love but the sacrificial love our Father is just indescribable.

Not everyone has the gift of a mother’s love but anyone can have the gift of our Father’s love.

“For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” – John 3:16

“Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.” – Proverbs 31:25-28