The Afterglow

Nothing fills a mother's heart with joy faster than hearing from that grown girl or boy. When we went to the restaurant to eat yesterday, I could see afterglows of joy on the faces of many of the mothers there. I can imagine what put that look on their faces:

• a new hat, scarf  or some other article of clothing


• a piece of jewelry, (a mother's ring)


• a phone call from a child who lives far away just to say, "Happy Mother's Day."


• a surprise visit home from one or more of her grown children


• the pleasure of having all or most of her family together again, etc.

Sons and Daughters

In every family, there is at least, one child who takes charge of the others and herds them in line when it comes to "Mother's Day. I have heard things such as:

• "Don't care how you manage it, but you be there for dinner at Momma's house!"


• "Okay, we need everybody's money for Momma's gift in two weeks!"


• "Okay, we got the flowers ordered. You girls got the outfit, right?", etc.

Mothers

Now, as far as mothers are concerned, they usually call it like it is. I have heard mothers say things such as:

• "Girl, I have one child who is always going to be right under my feet. Honey, not a day goes by that I don't hear from him/her. And he/she makes the others tow the line, too when it comes to my birthday or Mother's Day. Yeah, girl, I know. Sometimes I have to make him/her lighten up on the others. But, he/she is a blessing as are all of my children. They all love me, though they may have different ways of showing it.


• Honey, my babies remembered their momma on yesterday. The girls got together and fixed a big ole dinner. Even had my baby cooking and I never was able to get her to sit still long enough to boil water! Ha Ha, my babies surprised me if I never get another surprise like that. Yeah, I know what you mean; they are a true blessing to us.

So, children, you did well yesterday.  When you talk to your mother over the course of the next few weeks, you will be able to hear/see the afterglow that your outpouring of love caused in her.  God bless you for your care and concern for your mothers and for your taking the time to show it.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

Happy Mother's Day to Every Mother

May your day be filled with happiness and may you build sweet memories to carry you through the years.

Momma - My Blessing

To those of you whose mother on this time side of life still resides
Make her know her, value and worth
Make her know that you are thankful that
She was the one who gave you birth.

And to those whose mother has gone on to the other side
Just look forward to a joyous reunion when you see her again
And she will have a joyous smile on her face that says
Blessed child of mine, come right on in!

********

A Colorful Picture of a Blessing

I tried to paint a colorful picture

These last few days on my blog

Like the one that my Momma painted for me

And I wanted to share my rose-tinted glasses

By encouraging and inspiring others

As a child of a jewel of a mother

On behalf of all mothers - the blessings

That mothers are to all of humanity.

 

A Tribute to My Momma:

In reading my blog, you have warmed your feet at the "hearth of my Momma's love." The values I espouse are the ones that she drilled into me. The God I talk about is the One she taught me to cherish.

• - Hats Off to You, Lula Mae, Momma, for you deserve a medal of honor!

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

I Remember Momma

 

I Remember Momma

I am just a country bumpkin

Still holding on to the standards

With which I was raised

My Momma was a godly woman

The Lord be praised.

Since my Momma was a preacher's daughter

There were certain things that she did not condone

And would not allow her children to do

For when we did she would give us a look

That would chill us to the bone.

Found myself thrust into a situation

Last night that made me cringe

And I thought to myself, "You

Know your mother would not be

Comfortable with the mess that

You have been put in, for she

Would say, "No, no, daughter, you

Are standing too close to the fringe!"

So, what I did was remember to whom I belonged

And I upheld the right and shunned the wrong

And held my head up for all to see

The Spirit that dwells inside of me.

Remember your Momma and always strive to make

Her proud of the things that you do each day

By living for the Lord and being a shining

Example of love along the way.

 

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

She Took Time and Patience Then

She Took Time and Patience Then

She took time and patience then

So that I could begin my walk and

Take my stance among men.

She taught me my ABC's

She taught me to tie my shoes

She taught me to be polite by

Always saying, "Thank you" and "Please."

She took the time and patience to

Instruct me in the things that she

Thought I needed to know

In essence, she gave me the tools that

I would need to carry me where I would go.

Yes, she prepared me for this life

And for the day when she would

Leave me to walk solo

The day when she would no longer

Grace this world below.

Yes, she left me alone

To continue to chop my row

As on through this life, I go.

She took the time and patience then

And I took the time and patience when -

Now looking forward to one day seeing her again

My beloved Momma, my earthly best friend.

She never expressed disgust or showed impatience when she was trying so hard to teach me to learn to tie my shoes or when she was trying to teach me my ABC’s. I remember struggling so hard to tie my shoes and practicing and practicing. I never will forget the day that I manipulated those strings and, Voile! I got a tie. I went running to find my Momma so that I could show her what I had just done. I think I ran so fast because I wanted to find her before my hand forgot how to do it. At any rate, I ran smack dab into her with a woof! She shushed me and asked me what had me so excited that I had slammed the door when I came into the house running. I was grinning from ear to ear, and I said, “Momma! Momma! Momma! I can tie my shoes.” She looked at me with a twinkle in her eye and said, “Show Momma.” You know it was show time then, right? I stuck my tongue in the corner of my mouth, and I tied my shoes and looked up at her to see how she was looking and what she was going to say. She said, “Uhm hm, now show Momma again.” She looked at me and then said, Momma is proud of you because you are Momma’s big girl now. I tell you, folks, I basked in the glow of those words and others of like ilk that she said to me even to this.

You see it was like I told you Tuesday, she colored the glass through which I view the world. She colored them with love. And in answer to the innocent question that I asked her about magic beans and getting a doll lite Rita got? She gave me Something much better than any old bean or doll; She gave me Jesus.

She equipped me for life with and without her. She gave me a Friend Who could be with me all of the time, even when she couldn’t. And that Friend, y’all, I carry everywhere I go.

He was with me when I went to the studio and did my interview on the radio yesterday. Yes! You heard me correctly. I interviewed on the radio yesterday, and it felt great! I felt on top of the world when that radio announcer pulled that big microphone up and the interview began.

So, what does my radio interview have to do with you and your mother? Well, here’s the deal. If My Mother had not taken the time and patience to teach me and push me to be all that I  could be in Jesus’ name, then I would have given in to the naysayers a long time ago. And you would not be reading from my blog now because there is always somebody that wants to shut you down. But because I had a godly Momma who loved and cherished me, I use that teaching to learn more about this living that we are doing so that I can share that love with you. You see, when I share her love with you, I am sharing her love of the Lord which is what she was all about.

So

Since your mother takes the time or took the time and patience to teach you and nurture you, take time for her now. It’s quite simple, really. It’s all about showing love. We have spent almost nine days discussing mothers, and for some of you, that might seem like a lot. But remember the nine times umpteen days that she spent on you and your welfare. She certainly deserves more than one special day of your care. Why, because the jewels of mothers of this world are rare.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Had a Caring and Teaching Mother,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

 

Better than Cake - Out on the Air Waves!

We stopped yesterday with our little 8-year-old being excited but not too excited to each a piece of cake. Let's jump back in, shall we?

So, that night when it was storytelling time, I begged my momma to tell us the story of “Jack and the Beanstalk.” When she finished, I sat back with a blissful sigh, as I always did when Momma finished whatever story she was telling us. Still in the grips of the blissful storybook moment, I said to Momma, “Momm-uh! Wouldn’t it be good if magic beans were real?”

Oh, the scoffing laughter that burst forth from my brothers. “Ha ha ha ha! Man, are you dumb! There’s no such thing as magic beans! You’re so stupid! Ha ha ha ha!”

 

To that, Momma replied, “Leave your sister alone, boys. And yes, it would be nice, but that’s only in fairy tales. All right, everybody! Scoot! Off to bed, you guys.”

~~~~~~~~

 

The next day, Momma sat me down and told me she needed to talk to me. She gave me that penetrating stare that seemed to look through me. I didn’t like it when my momma looked at me like that, because most of the time it meant I was in trouble or she was about to tell me something serious.

 

Momma said, “Beanstalk magic is not real, but there is something better that is. That something is prayer and Jesus. You know how Momma has taught you to say your prayers at night? Well, after you finish saying them, you can ask Jesus for what you want Him to do for you.”

“You mean I can ask Him, and He will do it!” I thought for a few seconds then I came up with this bright conclusion, “Can I ask for a doll like Rita got?”

We will finish our tale tomorrow of how Momma gives our little eight-year-old the best lesson that any mother could give a child, Jesus. And I will tie in today's title for you, too.

I will give you a hint! I got some studio time today!!!!!!!!... Until tomorrow, then, if the Lord wills.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

Joys That Await Me

I had about a 2.5-mile walk home from school when I was eight years old. I did not mind the walk, as there were many other children who walked, too. Usually, we found one of our buddies to walk home with and played, hopped and skipped most of the way. But Tuesdays were special days. Why? That was Momma's off day. I knew that when I got home, Momma's love would be waiting for me and warm food to boot. Plop, plop, plop, I just kept putting one foot in front of the other because I knew what joy awaited me when I got home. My Momma's love awaited me...

When I got home, I walked through the door, and I could smell what smelled like neck bones and potatoes…and I smelled something else. It smelled like cake! Had Momma baked a cake? I walked through the corridor of the front room, the middle room, the hall, the dining room, and at last to the kitchen. Yes! There sat a cake on the table. I went out the back door looking for my mother and found her talking with my aunt who lived upstairs. I walked up to Momma and took from her the clothes she had just taken from the line.

 

By the time I heard the back-door slam, I had changed into my play clothes and had hung up my school clothes. Momma told me to wash my hands and come to the table to eat. I kept up incessant chatter while I washed my hands with the Octagon soap, until Momma said, “You pay attention to what you are doing so you get your hands clean. You can tell me about school after you get your plate and sit down at the table.”

 

“Yes, ma’am,” I said in a subdued voice.

 

When I got my food and sat back down at the table, Momma said, “Okay, so tell me what has you so excited that you could hardly get in the door before you told me?”
I said, “In reading group today, our teacher read us a new story. It was called ‘Jack and the Beanstalk.’”

“Okay, tell Momma the story.”

I launched into the story using my best storytelling voice, just as I had heard Momma do many times. When I finished the story, with Jack getting an ax and chopping the beanstalk down, Momma was giggling, and her eyes shone with motherly love and pride.

She patted me on the back and got up to cut the cake. “I don’t suppose you are too excited to eat a bit of cake, are you?”

(Continued on Thursday)

The story above is a true story excerpt from the book, Chopping My Row, p. 160.

The gift that was my mother

I am proud to share with you

As we make our way to the other side -

A place that with joy we are looking forward to.

If your mother is still gracing this time side of life, give her a phone call or a visit because one day the phone calls and visits will be memories that will sustain you.

If your mother has already crossed to the other side, then do something in her memory to help your fellowman as you walk this life to reach her side.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Serve My God with Pride,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

Oh, what joys await us when we get to the other side! We will have the joys of reunion, but the greatest joy will be meeting my Lord and being able to say, "Thank You, Sir!"

She Colored My World

She Colored My World

I had a jewel of a mother

And I was glad that the Lord let me see

That the things that others admired in me

Was simply the way my Momma taught me to be.

She was loving, and she taught me to be

She was prayerful and had great respect for Christ

And she taught me how to allow Him to

Always have control over my life.

She taught me to always think of the downtrodden

And anyone who was going through something unpleasant

Oh, she taught me so much that I cannot name it all

But I can say that I carry her teachings with me

Even in this moment, present

And it still brings me joy when those moments

That she colored my life, I sit down like now and recall.

If I could, I would pick up my telephone and

Dial up a sweet, “Hello”

And say, “It’s just me Momma sending

You some thanks from down here below.

And yes, I am doing fine

I am doing my blog and sharing with others

About the time that you introduced me to Jesus

So very long ago.”

 

********

A Portion of the poem above is what I would say if I were able to dial my Momma up today. Have your dialed up yours if she is still on this time side of life?

 

 

Yes, I am an optimistic little soul and a caring, tender-hearted one at that.

Something my momma told me when I was just eight years old had

such an impact on me that it continues to impact my life, even

to this day. What thing is this? Listen, and put yourself in the mind

of an eight-year-old, okay? You can do it—just humor me a bit, will you?

 

If you have ever had the privilege of indulging in a good fairytale,

then you realize the euphoric cloud that I walked home under one

particular day when I was eight years old. This would be the day

that our teacher introduced us to the children’s story “Jack and the

Beanstalk.” On any given day, it was my mother’s habit to ask us

what we had learned or done at school that day.

 

 

On this particular day, I skipped until I got tired, walked for a bit,

and started skipping again. Now mind you, I had three miles to go,

but that did not bother me. I hopped, skipped, and played on my

way home from school, as I did most days. I could not wait to get

home to tell my momma what I had learned in school that day. And

you know what else? I knew that today was extra special because

today was Tuesday—Momma’s day off. That meant I would get to

smell the hot food she would have waiting for me and my brothers.

There would be baked sweet potatoes with a small amount of margarine,

maybe neck bones and Irish potatoes, or pinto beans and

pig’s ears. Then again, I knew there was the chance that we might

be having black-eyed peas. Yuck! Neither my brothers nor I liked

black-eyed peas, but Momma said they were good for us.

Continued on Wednesday…

Blessing of Mothers

There was a song that I heard a choral group do several years ago that had these words:

Lord, I want to thank You for my mother

For when You gave me my mother

You gave me a part of You

Lord, You knew that when we

Had lost all others

That we could always count on our mother

So I want to thank you Lord for mothers

Such as this.

Mothers have a blessed place in our hearts. And while I did not write the words to the song above, the words ring true for me, as I am sure it does for most of you. And that is one of the reasons that I have dedicated my blog for the rest of the week to the subject of mothers.

It has been said that "The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world." That is a true statement. And if you go to my Twitter site you will see that I have as a logo, a mother's hand holding a tiny baby's hand. That shows you the weight that our mothers carry in shaping our lives.

And as usual, when you read the pages of this blog, you will see that I am using this opportunity, as my mother's daughter, to brag on God. (Jeremiah 9:24)

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because, As My Mother's Daughter, I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

 

 

 

Ah, Mother

Ah, Mother

You cradled me in your body

Nine months long

You held my hand with love

Until I learned to walk on my own.

You taught me about life

And how to find my way

You introduced me to your God

A Friend, Who would care for me

So that I could have hope

When life and time parted our ways

And I had to face your dying day.

Ah, Mother

I now walk on my own

But I carry the strength you gave me

When you told me of the God, Who loved me

And because of that, I can be strong.

Ah, Mother

Because of the love that you've shown me

Each smile I give or each kind deed that  I do

Precious, I share with this world

A little bit of the sunshine that was you.

And now that I'm grown

With children of my own

I teach them the melody of you

So that they, too can learn to sing

The essence of your song.

So man, woman, boy or girl

If your mother still graces

This time side of life

Don't just wait for Mother's Day

But love and treasure her

Like the jewel that she is

While you can still feel her

Tender touch and warm embrace

And she is only a "hello" or phone call away.

 

The poem above is one that I composed this morning in memory of my Momma, Lula M. Carr. And yes, just as the poem says, her melody sings to you with each blog that I post.

You should not wait until next Sunday; go ahead and start today. This Sunday morning, if possible, surprise your mother with a visit to the worship and act upon her slightest whim. Trust me; you will be glad you did when her life wattage has gone dim.

 

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because My Momma Taught Me to Love God and He Said to Love You, Too,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

 

 

Like Nobody Else in the World

Mother's Day is Sunday, May 13, so for the next nine days, I will be discussing mothers on my blog. Why? Simple, really. If you ask most people who loves them more than anybody else in the whole world, most people would say their mother, if you exclude spouses.

Momma (Mother)

Our mothers make quite a significant contribution to our lives, and yet, sometimes we get so busy that we might tend to take her for granted simply because she has always been there.

We will discuss this a little more in the next nine days. But for today, here is a poem for you to think about.

Like Nobody Else in the World

Just a phone call will gladden her heart

The woman who gave you life and

Gave you your start

The woman whose value system you

Are walking around with ingrained in you

The woman who trained you to do and be

All the things that you can be and do.

 

Do you take for granted the fact that

All you have to do is smile

And that female you look upon as Mom

Will give you that special look, just

Because you are her child?

 

Your mother, whether birth or adopted, will always be your best friend besides your spouse and of course, God. He is first always. Think on these things…

 

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

Persistence Pays Off

When I got to my computer this morning to do my blog, things did not go as I had planned. I must have inadvertently hit a wrong key., the end result of which made my type size go to about a 6. I usually type in a font size of 12, so you know I had to be mildly irritated, to say the least. Tsk! Tsk! Tsk! At any rate,  I did not get to work on the problem until this evening, as I had an appointment that took up quite a bit of my day. 

The trouble that I had with the size of the font made me have to do a bit of study, the result of which is that I know quite a bit more about my new wordprocessing program than I would ordinarily know. I have managed to get the font to a size that I can work with. I still do not know how to get it the size I want without going through several steps. I will keep studying and stepping.

And

The scenario above brings me to another point that I need to mention about life.  When I had the computer problems this morning, I could have easily given in to frustration and not done a blog at all. Instead, I found a way to make this thing work until I could figure out the logistics of this new program. What am I saying about life? I am saying that sometimes we are thrust into situations, not of our choosing and the only way we can get out of them is through prayer and trial and error. The trial-and-error develops something in us that we will need in our further travels down the road. Think about it...

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

I Won't Be Missed

Worship Service

When it comes to worship services, do you ever feel like the title of this piece says? Do you ever feel like, "I won't be missed?" Most of us have felt like that at some point or another in our life. But, the trick is to not allow yourself to feel that way too often. Why? Well if you allow yourself to feel like that too often, you may be setting yourself up for falling away from the church and not even realizing it. You know how it goes; you stay away for some reason or another, usually because somebody hurt your feelings. You sit at home mad with righteous anger.

You figure that somebody will come by and ask you to come on back. But what if nobody does? Yes, we know that in a perfect world someone would come by or call to check on you and tell you that they missed you, etc. Somebody may come by and they may not. You have to remember that we do not live in a perfect world. If we did, then the Lord would not have said that He was going to separate the tares from the wheat when He comes back.

Listed below are some of the things that you do when you decide not to go to worship:

1. You deprive yourself of the privilege of communing with the Lord. Remember that He said, "Where two or three gather together in My name, there I will be in the midst." (Matthew 18:20, KJV)


2. You deprive other members of your presence. You never know when someone has decided to pattern their life after you, so it behooves all of us to put Christ first in all we say and all we do.


3. You deprive the preacher of your presence. I know! That statement shocked you didn't it? You never thought about it like that, did you? Yeah, well most people don't think about the preacher in that way either. But, look at this scripture:

that is that I with you may be comforted in you, each of us by the other's faith, both yours and mine.(Romans 1:12, ASV)

You can plainly see in the scripture above that the apostle Paul said that he got encouragement from coming together with his Christian brothers and sisters. I can tell you as the wife of a preacher who has been on the ministerial field for  over 40 years that every encouraging word helps the minister because much of the time he gets more criticisms than "Thank you's."

Good Works

As you know, my motto is some form of "Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care." That is why I do a blog most days. When my blog does not appear, you look for it don't you? Well, if you like reading my blog, that means that I have been successful in doing a good work. It means that when my blog doesn't appear you miss it. Try to build a positive legacy so that you will be missed in a good way, when your seat is empty.

Doing What I Can, While I Can Because I Care,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

 

I Can Use the Dust Ruffle

Often in life, we have to resort to using what we have in hand to accomplish a goal. I wanted a new window treatment for a room in my house but had no funds to create one. So, I used what I had in hand. I used the new dust ruffle, and it matched the spread perfectly because it came with it.

So, it is going to take a little effort on my part, but I will have the new window treatment that I, wanted and too, I will get the satisfaction of being creative with cloth once again.

I have a long history of being able to make do with whatever I had on hand to get a job done. When I was a little girl, I altered the clothes that folk gave me so that they fit me. I guess that you could say that since life had given me some lemons, I used the talents and skills that I had been gifted with to make lemonade.

But

I just was not prepared for folk to mess with the lemonade that I fixed. But as I told you a couple of blogs back, if you do anything worthwhile, you will cultivate enemies or haters and will have a bullseye on your back. But I am so glad that I have a Father, Who can and has said, "Oh no you don't! Not that one. She is mine! Enough, no more! She has proven her love for me and is to be commended and blessed." You know, the Lord had a conversation similar to this concerning Job, didn't He? Uhm hmm.

Well

What I am saying is that we need to use whatever we have and know that if we do, we have a God, Who is faithful and Who will take care of our needs according to His riches in glory.

Bottom Line

When things happen that you cannot understand, keep praying and trusting God anyhow. Our thoughts are not His, and our ways are not His, but remember He is the great I AM and what is He to you? He is your Daddy, and He has been in the taking care of His children business longer than you have been living! In fact, He invented the business, so why should you worry? Be happy and content while remembering that all things work together for good for those who love the Lord!

Use your dust ruffle!

Doing What I Can While I Can as I Use My Dust Ruffle and Give Encouraging Advice to You at the Same Time,

Alma L. Grateful Carr-Jones

And another thing, don't let what your neighbor has cause you to be discontent with what you have. Think about this: If you look overlong at what your neighbor has, you will become a hater and just might act accordingly. Just saying...