BEN F. VICK, JR.
The prayers of our mothers are encouraging to us, especially as we look back on them. I recall a friend and gospel preacher, Jon Hackett, who told of what strength he gained while in Viet Nam, knowing that his mother was praying for him. Others perhaps can agree.
It has been almost three decades since my mother left us, but I still remember her prayers when I was a young boy. Every morning after breakfast, we would have a devotional. Mother would say a prayer. In the privacy of her bedroom at night, she would get on bended knees to pray. On an occasion or two, I saw her praying beside her bed.
Her prayers included thanksgiving. Though we had little compared to others, she was thankful. Though she had endured the hardships of a Job, she was grateful. She lost three husbands in her lifetime—one to war, one to unfaithfulness, one to instability. Mother had only been married to Hugh Dorsey North for six months and was only with him a month when he was killed on Okinawa. The second one fathered four children and could not be counted upon. The third, like Reuben, was as unstable as water. Mother worked a full-time job and reared her children. Through all her trials, she counted her many blessings. I recall being asked to lead a prayer in chapel at Georgia Christian School. I was in the 7th grade. I told my mother of my trepidation; she wrote a short prayer for me and told me to make it mine. One line I still remember: “Father, we thank thee for the manifold blessings bestowed upon us.” How true it was that God had blessed the Vick family through all our trials!
Mother’s prayers included supplications to our heavenly Father. Give us strength for the day. Give us our daily bread. Help us to get along and love each other. Please help us to be wise in our choices. She prayed that her children would be faithful to the Lord. She prayed that each of us might marry a Christian. She knew how important it was to marry someone who could help us go to heaven. She prayed for us and preached the importance of marrying someone who had the same goal – heaven. She asked God to forgive us of our sins. She knew she was not perfect, but she strove to walk in the footsteps of Jesus.
In her supplications, I can still hear her words, “Guide, guard, and direct us down the uneven pathway of life.” And if anyone knew the difficulties of life, mother did. Life’s pathway includes ups and downs, twists and turns, rough spots, and smooth lots. It is fraught with dangers and the lurking enemy always ready to pounce upon the unsuspecting. She looked to God’s word to guide her as a lamp to her feet and light to her path. As a child of God, she believed in God’s providential care. Her faith was strong through all the strain and stresses of life, knowing that God would direct her. She desired the same for her children.
For the last ten months of our mother’s life, she struggled with that dreaded disease, cancer. No one prayed more fervently for her recovery than she and her children. But it was not to be. Mother had told us that God would either remove the cancer or help her through it. During that time, there was a certain point that she could not pray anymore. We knew intellectually that she was sick, but we knew emotionally that she was very ill when she told us this. I said, mother, we are still praying for you. I told her there are occasions in our lives when we do not know for what we should pray. I referred to Paul’s words: “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered.” (Rom. 8:26) The “groanings” here are not the Spirit’s groanings, but our groanings when we do not know for what we should pray.
We buried mother’s diseased-wreaked body on her 69th birthday, but her prayers I will not forget.
I wonder how many of our mothers are praying with and for their children. Mothers, as well as fathers, can teach their children to pray. They learn from us. Do we express our worries to our children but never our prayers before our children?
MOTHER’S BIBLE
I have my mother’s Bible. It is pretty worn and highlighted. She read it every day. She had it rebound. Unlike the Moravians who just opened the Bible, letting the pages fall where they would, mother read it systematically. She made notes in the margin of her Bible. She read at least three chapters a day, sometimes more. When she finished her reading for the day, she would put the next day’s date on the next chapter to begin reading. I also have her mother’s New Testament (my Grannie’s), in which she dated the chapters the same way.
On the day my older brother was killed by a drunk driver (7-16-1988), she wrote the following at the beginning of Proverbs 20: Steve 9-19-50. Ironically, she was ready to begin reading Proverbs 20:1, which reads, “Wine is a mocker, strong drink is raging: And whosoever is deceived thereby is not wise.” She got three chapters read on that Saturday. Her next reading began at Proverbs 23.
When mother retired from the bank in Valdosta, Georgia, she determined to memorize a keyword for each chapter of the Bible. In her large-print Bible, she had written down what she considered a keyword for each chapter of the Bible. When she was out walking or had spare time, she had cards with keywords. One could ask her what is in a specific chapter of the Bible, and she could give her keyword.
Mother read the Bible to her children. I wonder how many mothers are reading the Bible or telling the Bible stories to their children? I have my mother’s old copy of Egermeier’s Bible Story Book. It is falling apart, but I can recall my mother’s having read it to us when I was very young. I remember her crying as she read about the crucifixion of Jesus. Paul said to Timothy, “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.” (2 Tim. 1:5.) What are we teaching our children? Are we teaching them fear or faith? What kind of example are we living before our children?