Published: May 09, 2008 12:00 am            

Giving thanks for mothers-in-law

Memorial Presbyterian Church

When is mother-in-law's Day? I can't find it on my calendar. Where are the mother-in-law poems that give tribute to the mother of my wife? Perhaps, I could find a small selection in the local Hallmark store.

I know about mother-in-law jokes. They are a staple of stand-up comics. They supposedly illustrate the principle that mothers-in-law should be avoided like the plague. If so, this is a principle of which I have no knowledge. For I had the greatest mother-in-law in the world.

Her name was Della Lou Clements. She was a wonderful lady who won a place in my heart during our first week of marriage. My wife, Judy, and I got sick on our honeymoon with the flu. And we pointed our 1969 Chevrolet toward Greenville, Texas, and staggered into the home of my wife's parents.

We felt all but dead for the next three days. I do not remember exactly what my wife's mother did for me. I suppose she brought me chicken noodle soup and took my temperature and gave me ample doses of "get-well" medicine.

What I do remember is that she was kind. For the 24 years I knew her she was always kind to me. She said words that brought out the best in me.

It was a sad and shocking day when she died. Her absence overwhelmed us all.

It is her presence which is now so much a part of my life. What I remember most is a constant tone in which her actions consistently said: "You are important. You are special. You are a treasure which blesses the world."

Jesus said similar words to his followers. "You are the light of the world. You are the salt of the Earth." I suspect it is difficult for us to comprehend the love and the warmth and the care that went along with those words. No wonder they could not accept the notion he would soon die. They could not bear to think this man who made them feel 10 feet tall would be absent from their daily lives. And they could not begin to understand his absence would mean a greater presence as the Spirit of this wonderful man fell upon the early church and was carried throughout the world.

I believe the breeze of the Spirit of Christ is constantly with us... especially through the words and actions of those who love us, bear with us, challenge us and treat us in ways that help us to know that we are here for a purpose.

I am thankful to God for the Spirit of Christ. And I am thankful to God for the people, whether Christian or not, in whom I have seen the Spirit of Christ.

And I am thankful to God for Della Lou Clements... by far the best mother-in-law a person could have.

        

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