Celebrating Mother's Day
Bits of Wisdom from Mom – Adam Werner
I know a lot of us have those little bits of wisdom that get passed down from generation to generation. Here are some from my Mom that stuck with me and that I find myself repeating to my own kids now, too.
- “Why lie when the truth will do” Sounds so simple, yet it seems all too common nowadays to avoid responsibility, no matter how insignificant the infraction.
- “If you don’t have something nice to say don’t say it at all” Sometimes much easier said than done, but more often than not it’s better to take the high road.
- “Treat someone else’s things better than you would treat your own” and “put things back exactly as you found them” These go hand in hand for me. If someone is nice enough to lend something to you, don’t return it broken or dirty. And if you use someone else’s stuff, you should put it back exactly as you found it, especially if you didn’t ask for permission first, leave no trace...
- Everything happens for a reason. Life doesn’t always go according to plan, but if you show up and put forth an honest effort, things will usually work out alright in the end.
It’s not until I had kids myself that I truly began to appreciate the sacrifices and the amount of effort it takes to try to raise good kids (thanks Mom! and you too Dad). I’m sure there were plenty more lessons my Mom tried telling me, but odds are I was too busy talking to listen :). Some things you have to learn the hard way...
What Mother’s Day Means To Me – Devon Volker
Life doesn’t come with a manual, it comes with a mother – unknown
Isn’t that the truth? Some things I learned the hard way and then some things I learned to do the way mom told me from the beginning. She taught me to be the woman she knew I could be. If I had to narrow down the many lessons from my mom, here is what I’m going with:
- Work Ethic. Be a role model to your children, your peers, people you don’t even know. This means no staying home from school or calling out of work.
- When things get tough, don’t have a pity party or complain. Do something about it.
- Don’t eat late at night. This one was probably the toughest rule while growing up. TV and snacks just go together. But now I thank her for these healthy habits and personal willpower.
- Explore the world. I was fortunate to have the opportunity to travel when I was younger, which gave me perspective on the world and made me more adventurous as an adult.
- Everything happens for a reason. Sometimes life doesn’t seem fair and that’s because it probably isn’t. But in the end, things will have a way of working themselves out.
- Lastly, I’d be letting my heritage down if I didn’t say - be a little bit PA Dutch. I learned to cook wonderfully bland meals, be cheap, and take care of my things because I know how hard those before me worked.
I’m appreciative of the sacrifices my mom made and the things she taught me. My mom is the best mom and grandma (or Granny as we like to call her) to my two children.
If I turn into my mother, or even half the woman she is, I’ll consider myself a successful one – unknown.
The Mom Scorecard – Benjamin Haas
To follow Devon’s theme of “life doesn’t come with a manual, it comes with a mother,” I would also say that life doesn’t come with a scorecard to know whether you got a good mom or not. I don’t have any unique qualifications, but now being blessed to be a parent myself, I do have perspective and opinions on what that scorecard could look like. It proves what an amazing mom I married.
| Subject | Grade | Note |
| Are your children happy? | A | This one is easy. I have happy kids, for sure. Time will tell, but we don’t have chronic complainers and all three laugh and smile far more than they fuss or cry. |
| Are your children well behaved? | A | My kids sit nicely in church (which is a feat all in itself!) and we hear zero issues in school – which is great. They are brothers and pick on each other from time to time, but Desiree gets an A for raising good kids. |
| Do they find different ways to enjoy life? | A | Cayden is involved in lots of things, Gabriel has a great imagination and Lucas follows them both. In this day and age of technology, I’m happy to report my kids have found joy in doing things other than sitting in front of a screen. Although they love that too. |
| Are they respectful? | B+ | Generally speaking, absolutely. Do they always listen to their mother on the first ask? No. Do they push her buttons asking for lots of treats and technology? Yes. Do they push boundaries sometimes? All kids do. But she does an amazing job being patient (far better than me!) |
As goofy as the scorecard is, we could all probably agree that regardless of how you justify what makes a good mom, the bottom line is that good Moms make us feel loved. And if that’s the lone barometer, I also grew up having an AMAZING mom. I learned many valuable parenting lessons from her, and always (still to this day) feel her love.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3OifREE71KI
Happy Mother’s Day to all the caring and nurturing women out there – moms or not!
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