Some time ago I had the honor of presenting the Eagle Scout award to a young man. I watched as his mother, with trembling hands, pinned the Eagle badge on his uniform.
I couldn't help but think back to my mother and father standing with me for that same ceremony when I was fourteen years old. I still remember my mother's trembling hands as she put the badge on my uniform.
A mother's hands are very special. Those hands get dirty and soiled by changing diapers and doing unpleasant things around the house. Sometimes those hands tremble with fear. So often those hands prepare meals, help with homework, provide correction when one does wrong. Those hands wipe away a child's tears, patch and sew what is torn, hold a book, and often earn a living.
Very often those hands are clasped together in prayer before the Lord as a mother prays for a sick child, for a needy child, for a child who has done wrong, for a child who has gone down the wrong road in life. I am so thankful for all mothers who do their very best day in and day out. I am so thankful for the prayers of my mother over the years.
Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, "Men are what their mothers make them." Abraham Lincoln said, "All that I am or hope to be I owe to my angel mother."
This Sunday we give thanks to God for mothers . . . and for their hands. Happy Mother's Day!