Happy Birthday, Mom!

This morning, I woke up really early...uncharacteristically early...about 5:45 early! I haven't done that in quite awhile. The crazy thing is, if I wanted to wake up that early to go somewhere I would be miserable. But then, there's that random morning where the neighbor's sprinkler system wakes you up when it is still dark. Do flowers really NEED water at 5:30 in the morning?? So today, I was awake and never could fall back asleep.

I finally surrendered and was rewarded a great dose of quiet. I used to get a couple of hours of quiet three days a week when the boys were in school. But since we are in summer fun mode now, there is amazing fun, but precious little quiet.

I spent those sweet, sunrise moments alone with God and Esther. I am working my way through Beth Moore's new Bible Study, Esther: It's Tough Being a Woman. So far, I really love it. But I am a crazy Beth Moore fan, so there you go...

I thought about the importance of the day and the role of other women in my life. That's when it hit me. Today is my mom's 57th birthday! Happy Birthday to my amazing mom! Although we have not always seen eye to eye, praise God for a Mom that fought the necessary battles to teach a bull-headed daughter what was really important!

In honor of my mom's special day, I thought I would share some of the things that my mom has taught me...

- "Remember who you are and who you belong to." This was the prevailing message of my childhood, often called out as I was driving away with a friend or headed off on some trip. For as long as I can remember, I felt a very clear sense of my value as a part of my family and what was expected of me. I want this for my boys...a unwavering sense of identity that comes from a clear understanding who they are in Christ and what it means to be a Miller.

- Always listen to that "little voice." It is God's way of guiding you and it is never wrong. I learned early that God had a plan for my life that was better than anything I could have ever come up with on my own. The older I get, the more clearly I can see God's hand at work in my past, guiding me toward some things and away from others...it has always, always been for my good. My mom taught me to listen to the Holy Spirit and I can't imagine the heartache it has saved me from.

-The importance of "startin' at the back door"....This was our nightly ritual as kids. We would start at the back door at one end of the house and pick up everything that was ours and put it away. By the time we got to our bedrooms on the other end of the house, it was time for bed. We had not been married long when Keith watched me do this one night with this dumbfounded look on his face. "What in the world are you doing?" he asked. I replied, "I'm startin' at the back door." I'm sure that cleared the situation right up for him! Startin' at the back door taught me the importance of organization.

- If you don't have time to do it right the first time, you definitely don't have time to do it twice. I heard this one a lot as a kid when I did a crappy job on some chore. In the midst of my many bed-making "do-overs," I learned to take pride in my work.

- It is humbling to have "normal" children. Some days, I look at my boys and see excitement and wonder, imagination and all things beautiful. Other days, I look at my boys and see stubbornness, willfulness, temper-tantrums, mischief and down-right disobedience. It is in these moments, when Stephen has painted the bathroom with toothpaste AGAIN and Sam is once AGAIN asking "Why won't you just let me do what I want to do?!!?" that my mom calmly reminds me how humbling it is to have "normal" children. And even though I am sure she is thinking of all the ways they inherited their mommy's sinful nature, she loves me enough to never say it out loud.

- Never underestimate the importance of a life invested in children. My mom is forever telling me that she is not "smart," (not true, by the way), but I am convinced that generations of children could testify otherwise...her own three daughters, her six grandchildren, the children she provided childcare for in her home, the twenty some-odd kindergartners that pass through her care each year, children's choir members from decades past, GA's, Mission Friends...you name an opportunity to minister to kids and my mom has been there. I am convinced that even the sweet babies that are in her arms this very week in Vacation Bible school in Georgia would testify of her love for God's little ones if they could.

So today, in the quiet of this beautiful morning, I am praising God that He gave me an amazing mom. I am blessed to be her daughter.