happy mother's day and early birthday. i just wanted to tell the world how much i love you and how special you are to me. this year you're in china visiting dad, so there's no one to cook breakfast for this sunday morning. maybe i'll just cook for alicia, and i'll leave the card for you to read when you come back. you always cry when we give you the mother's day card, because your heart is so tender, so full of love for us and this family.
mom, thanks for being the rock of our family. i know it hasn't been easy, but your love for dad and our family is a living example of 1 corinthians 13 true love. mom, you really taught me what it means to love without expecting anything in return. you taught me how to love the unlovely, those who need love the most. you love with a love that never gives up.
mom, thanks for teaching me what joy is. that joy isn't a feeling or emotion, but a decision to take our eyes off our circumstances and find our joy in the everlasting goodness of God. your desire to praise God in every situation, especially in hard circumstances has given me a reason to rejoice always, to praise God always. thanks for teaching me how to live a life focused not on the sufferings and trials of this world, but on the eternal glory and pleasures found at the right hand of God.
mom, thanks for your smile and laughter, even in the most broken circumstances. the times you praise God when dad isn't in a good mood reminds me that i have no right to live even for a moment in sadness or fear, but that the joy of the LORD is our strength. your joy despite all the hardships in your life leaves me speechless, and always stops me from self-pity when i think my life is hard.
mom, thanks for your passion for Jesus. the way you get up at the early hours of every morning to wait upon God. the ways you have taught me to believe in prayer, the ways God heard our prayers and saved dad and our family; the ways you prayed me into who i am today, the ways you pray for my future wife =), your prayers made all the difference, mom.
mom, thanks for your sacrifice. the ways you chose not to work just so you could spend time raising me, rick and alicia. we all love you so much. thanks for your selfless love to value us more than yourself or your career.
mom, thanks for always being so proud of me, even before i have done a thing. thanks for always reminding me of my strengths, and believing in me even when i don't believe in myself. thanks for calling me the smartest boy in the world even if i don't get the best grades, and always finding worth in me even when i don't see it in myself. thanks for always reminding me that i am God's beloved son.
mom, thanks for all the good food, emails (even if your english isn't that good), hour-long phone conversations, and every single one of our talks in the kitchen about Jesus, family, life, and more Jesus. i will never forget all the times we prayed and cried out to to God together. He heard all of our prayers.
mom, thanks for being not just a mom, but a friend, who always listens and who i can always trust.
i love you mom.
may you walk even closer to Jesus this year.
love,
eric
