Heart Hope by Olga

The young mother set her foot on the path of life. "Is this the long way?" she asked. And the guide said, "Yes and the way is hard. And you will be old before you reach the end of it. But the end will be better than the beginning." but the young mother was happy and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children, and gathered flowers for them along the way, and bathed them in the clear streams, and the sun shone on them and the young mother cried, "Nothing will ever be lovelier than this."  Then the night came and the storm and the path was dark and the children shook with fear and cold and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle and the children said, "Mother we are not afraid for you are near and no harm can come."  And the morning came and there was a hill ahead and the children climbed and grew weary and the mother was weary. But at all times she said to the children...

My mother is one of the servants in God’s kingdom that uses her gifts that often times go unnoticed. She loves people and has a way of making them feel special. At 85 years of age, she still works at the food pantry, sacking groceries for the needy in Jackson, MS. She has worked with a prison ministry as a mentor for women who have been incarcerated, but have been released to a halfway house. She has assisted them with finding jobs, buying clothes and even taught them about meal planning and cooking.  Mother’s ongoing job for her church is to visit the shut-ins. At one time they were all much older than she was, but now many of them are her peers. Mother will load up her arms with devotional books and special holiday treats to disperse to the ladies and sometimes men in assisted living or nursing homes. Recently while Mother was visiting an old college friend, the mother of a childhood friend of mine who has Alzheimer’s walked over to insist that mother call her daughter to come ...