Mother's Day

Mother's Day is soon approaching.  The question that always comes up is, "What should I get my Mom for Mother's Day?"  But really, what is the best way to show our Moms how much we appreciate them?  There are so many ideas, but none of them will fully show/say all we want to.  But I'll give it a shot:

M - Made me things:  This ranged from food to a list of chores to do.  Either way, it made me a better person, and made me into who I am today.  Nothing compares to the nurture of a mother.

O - Others oriented:  She was never thinking about herself.    Never have I ever heard my mom talk about herself.  Her life was revolved around others, especially her family.  She juggled sport events, seminary, work, house chores, and tons more, and still made time to be Mom.  No ordinary woman could do that.

T - Teacher by actions:  She showed me what was truly important in life, not by her words, but by how she lived her life.  Actions truly do speak louder than words.

H - Humble: Again, my mom never talked about herself.  And never did she boast (except when it was about her kids).  But she never took the credit.  It was always about us kids.

E - Encouraging: She made sure all of her kids knew that she was their biggest fan.  She was always the first one to cheer for us, and was by far loudest one at our sports events.  Nothing could stop her from standing on the bleachers and cheering for her kids.

R - Real Friend: This was one of the most important things that she did for me.  More important than her making me food!  My mom was a real friend to me.  Not just a friend that I can hang out with, but one I can talk to.  One that I can ask advice for, share stories with, laugh with, and have petty arguments with.  She was definitely a real friend.

These are just six of the bazillion things that my Mom does for me.  I've only scratched the surface.  She's totally awesome.  Nothing I do or say will fully explain what she means to me.  Just one last thing to say: Happy Mother's Day!

You've Got a Friend in Me

I've always enjoyed Pixar movies.  Somehow they're all really really good.  Especially the Toy Story series.  Man, what a well made series.  The theme song, You've Got a Friend in Me, has been stuck in my head the past couple of days.  It's gotten me thinking about what a friend is.  I used to qualify a friend as someone I'd hang out with on a regular basis.  That's a friend right?  Eh...not quite.  As I thought more about it, I realized a friend is much more than that.  A friend is someone that you can trust, someone you can look up to, someone that sincerely cares about you. 

I was reading in John chapter 15 and Christ talks about us being his friends.  However, we're not automatically qualified to be his friend.  John 15: 14 reads, "Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever I command you."  I can't think of a better friend to have the Christ himself.  He will always be our friend, but we can be his if we do as he commands.  How cool is that! 

As the theme song of Toy Story goes:

You've got a friend in me
You've got a friend in me
When the road looks rough ahead
and you're miles and miles from your nice warm bed
Just remember what your old pal said
Yeah, you've got a friend in me

Christ is and will always be our best friend.  May we strive to be the friend that he would have us be.  As we continue to live his teachings and follow his example, we can be that friend.  And when the road looks rough ahead, we can turn to him.