Mother's Day and Memories
We have had a hectic, but good week in the Pope’s household! We hit the ground running on Tuesday. Mrs. Pope and I put in a day’s work and headed for Florida to attend Juliana’s graduation ceremony where she received her Master’s degree. What a splendid ceremony with 850 graduates! We did not know until the day of graduation that in the Master’s program, Juliana was the top in her class! She taught at PCC last year and this fall, Lord willing, she will be teaching music in a private school.
We picked up Jonathan, cello, guitar, clothes, books and more books, shoes, personal computer and so on. We had a good trip there and back, although we did run into quite a bit of traffic. We could not get back to Houston for Wednesday evening services, so we stopped off at Gulfport, Mississippi, where my late father’s ministry is headquartered. I preached for Temple Baptist Church and we visited old friends.
Early Thursday we were “hightailing” it to Houston because the end of the year concert for Sean’s high school was starting at 7:30 p.m. and he was playing the contrabass. My sister was coming in that same afternoon. Barbara, Mrs. Lord and others were in for some long hours getting ready for the Mother/Daughter Brunch. On top of this we needed to hear from Heather as to how she is feeling with the baby on the way!
Like a veritable oasis, I found a needed time of musing in the Thursday night concert. The Howells were there to see David play the violin. Sharon Goodge, grandmother by proxy, was there. The Yardleys were there to see Abby; the Fleshners were there to see Nathan conduct some of the music. Barbara and I were there with Jonathan, who used to play his cello in this orchestra, to see his brother Sean. We know other friends were in the crowd, such as Crissy and Sarah. I enjoyed sitting still with my best friend, Barbara. I’ve never gotten over the joy of just sitting with my wife! Between my preaching and her piano playing we don’t often get to sit together.
Something happened I was not expecting. The pace slowed down, the concert was beginning. I saw Abby Yardley holding her violin, sitting there in her formal dress, with a smile on her face that depicted the maturity and loveliness of a lady, yet the thrill and unihibitedness of a little girl. She was giving some last minute information to her friend, Crissy Sanders who is a graduating senior in the same type orchestra in her school. She was no doubt proud to look out and see her parents, who were even more proud of her. My heart began to pull, as it was dawning upon me, our kids are really growing up. I looked across my shoulder and thought how can it be; here sits Sarah Harper who is graduating this year. I saw David Howell playing his violin in his tux and I felt like saying, “Who is this guy?” Shouldn’t he be chasing after some lizard or climbing monkey bars?
It was a great night. Nathan Fleshner got so carried away while conducting that his baton went into orbit across the stage. Forgive me, I love it when things like that happen! The kids played beautifully. There was a touching moment when the seniors said to their conductors, “We wanted to express our thanks with a little more than words,” then proceeded to play the song, “Memories.” Tears were everywhere. The closing moment came when the full orchestra reassembled to play one of my favorite pieces of all time, Ashoken’s Farewell, Unger’s piece that he wrote for the PBS series, “The Civil War.” The letter from Major Sullivan Ballou was read that he wrote to his wife with a premonition of his approaching death just before the first battle of Bull Run. It is a hauntingly beautiful piece of music that says good-bye to those we love, when words seem to fail us.
Even now as I reflect on that night last week, I find myself falling into muse with these thoughts.
You may not always like the scene God placed you in, but make the most of it. Life will improve; you are passing through. In no less than 455 places in the Scriptures the phrase “it came to pass” shows up. Isn’t it nice that some things didn’t come to stay? On the other hand if it is an extremely pleasant time, savor it and use it as a reference to draw from. “I thank my God upon every remembrance of you” (Philippians 1:3).
There are times Mrs. Pope and I have traveled all night to be at our children’s events in life. From music to sports, to plays, to graduations, from kindergarten to college, if at all possible, be there. You will not live to regret time not spent at the office, but far too many live to regret time not spent with the family.
Today as we celebrate motherhood, we are in awe. I am in awe to see my mom, my sister, my wife, and now one of my daughter’s begin to fall into rank with this elite crowd. I hear the words of Jesus say from the cross to John, “Behold thy mother” (John 19:27). As I sat in the concert last night, the most touching sight was seeing my wife propping up the old video recorder to get the last concert of the year on tape. She went to one out of state graduation, helped pack up one child to bring home from college, and personally took a major part of driving home to see her youngest in concert, with time for TCBY afterwards even though the next day was one of the busiest days of her life. I was in awe of those precious hands that hold my wedding ring, changed the kid’s diapers, held those little ones to her tired body and rocked them to sleep. Those hands grinding up green beans in a simple hand cranked blender so that even the little ones without teeth could enjoy the supper she prepared. What keeps a mother going? It certainly isn’t energy; she works past that point. It isn’t positive thinking; when kids have some of their difficult moments, like middle of the night sickness, positive thinking often doesn’t hold out. What keeps a mother going? Mother love. Today we celebrate that wonderful commodity of which most of us today have been recipients. Happy Mother’s Day!
-Pastor Pope-