Happy 80th birthday, Mom

 

With the circle still unbroken,

(Mom and Dad and all ten children with our spouses,)

our 80th birthday celebration for dear Mother on Sunday

was precious indeed!

Numbers 6:24-26

The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:

25The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:

26The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace.

The laundry lines you filled would reach up to the moon and back

And we could build skyscrapers with dishes, washed, dried and stacked 

The meals, prepared with thoughtful, loving labor, by God’s grace

Would humble us immensely if gathered into one place

Thank-you mom, for your diligence in ‘training up a child’

While we outgrew dresses and shoes, while days-to-years ran wild

While we would laugh and work and play and learn to humbly pray

To our Father up in Heaven to guide us each day

You taught us how to find joy in earth’s beauty, grand and free

Though busy you were never blind to God-penned poetry

You showed us (not just told us) when there was a task to learn

You took the time to read or pause to watch the seasons turn

You never did complain (or if you did I don’t recall)

A helpmeet for your husband and a mother to us all

With love enough to go around with never one left out

Love was the priceless plenty we never had cause to doubt

What happy days of childhood from heedless innocence slipped

From ‘now I lay me down to sleep’ to prayers without a script

From ‘Goodnight, yes, I’ll leave the hall light on, at least for now

(Unless the talker talked too long and laugher laughed too loud!)

Dear mom, I want to thank you, for too often I forgot

And simply took for granted tasty meals, healthy and hot

And work-worn hands that did not eat the bread of idleness

But tended to duty’s demands with cheerful faithfulness

I’m thankful for God’s love that has allotted eighty years

‘The multitude of sins’ you covered with your prayers and tears

And for the treasured memories that sparkle in a trove

Where surely the greatest of these is our sweet mother’s love

I pray each day for God to bless and keep you in his care

That come what may you sense the power of His presence there

I thank Him for the gift of a mother who read His Word

And let us by example with devotion undeterred

Happy eightieth Birthday, may the year ahead be blessed

With God’s mercies and if He wills, with health and happiness

Happy eightieth birthday, as your numbered days decrease/increase

May they be overflowing with God’s love and joy and peace

© Janet Martin

Psalm 71:18

Now also when I am old and grayheaded,

O God, forsake me not;

until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation,

and thy power to every one that is to come.

Psalm 37:25-26

I once was young and now am old,

yet never have I seen the righteous abandoned

or their children begging for bread.

26They are ever generous and quick to lend,

and their children are a blessing.

Psalm 90:12

Teach us to number our days,

that we may gain a heart of wisdom.