Mary
Thomas was a single mom of nine children living in Chicago's rough West Side
neighborhood. Seven of Mary's nine kids were boys, young men constantly
stretching the boundaries of their tired mother's authority and patience. One
day in 1966, Mary opened her front door to find 25 street thugs on her stoop.
The men, members of the notorious Vice Lords gang, had come to recruit her
seven sons. Mary, hearing their intentions, dropped her gaze, said “Hold on
just a second," and closed the door.
When
the door opened again, the first thing the Vice Lords saw was the barrel of a
loaded shotgun. “There's only one gang around here, and that's the Thomas
gang.” As you might imagine, the gangsters scattered like a bunch of scalded
dogs and never came back again. Ms. Thomas and her babies weren’t to be trifled
with.
With
that same fortitude, Mary Thomas ushered each of her nine “gang members” to
their high school graduation. You may have heard of her youngest son—pro
basketball player and Hall of Famer Isaiah Thomas. When Mary Thomas passed at
age 87, Isaiah told an ESPN reporter about her influence:
“My
mom was very simple and very humble, and she loved helping people. On her
dresser in her bedroom, she has a saying: 'What's done in life soon will pass.
What's done with love will always last.' She just had a way of looking at you
that made you feel like everything was all right. The way she observed me and
perceived me and the way she looked at me, I felt like most loved person in the
world, and I'm going to miss that."[1]
There
is nothing more beautiful, stronger or fierce than a mother’s love. A mother thinks
about her children day and night. Even if they are not with her, and will love
them in a way they will never understand. Novelist Agatha Christie wrote, “A
mother's love for her child is like nothing else in the world. It knows no law, no limits; it dates all
things and crushes down remorselessly all that stands in its path.”
So
many times on Mother’s Day we talk about the beleaguered, exhausted, frazzled
mother who is pulled in a million directions. While that picture may be true,
mothers are masters at multi-tasking, we also forget what drives her is a force
that is to be reckoned with. Her love is as tender a rose, immovable as
granite, powerful as a thunderstorm, and when tested that same love can react
with the ferocity of a wild animal.
Where
would be without the God-given instincts of a mother who would risk life and
limb for her family? Jimmy Dean, the country-western singer, does a number that
always leaves me with a big knot in my throat. It’s titled “I Owe You.” In the
song, a man is looking through his wallet and comes across a number of
long-standing “I owe yous” to his mother . . . which he names one by one.
Borrowing
that idea, I suggest you who have been guilty of presumption unfold some of
your own “I owe yous” that are now yellow with age. Consider the priceless
value of the one woman who made your life possible—your mother. Think about her
example, her support, her humor, her counsel, her humility, her hospitality,
her insight, her patience, her sacrifices. Her faith. Her hope. Her love.
If
she is alive today tell her how much she means to you. Then shower her with
gifts of love and service. If she’s gone on to be with the Lord, then say a
prayer of thanksgiving praising God for such a beautiful person. Thanks mom for
fighting for our family. -DM
[1]
Melissa Isaacson, “One Tough, but Sweet Mother,” ESPN, 17 January 2010, <http://sports.espn.go.com/chicago/nba/columns/story?columnist=isaacson_melissa&id=4826990>
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