The Itch

Call it getting older.  Or more mature.  Or developing the "mother's eye".  Or God working in me.  Whatever you want to call it, I am becoming my mother.  Or at least I am seeing more of my mother in me.

Before we went to Seattle, my mother got the itch to make loquat jam.  We have a loquat tree growing in our atrium and she had been watching them ripening and pondering what she could do with this odd fruit.  So one day she asked me to get her some because she was going to make some jam.  You know when it's your parents you just smile and nod, and pray that your kids will be as accommodating when you get older.  So I got out the ladder and cut off the fruit I could reach.  She just made a small batch and now we have been enjoying the fruits of her labor.  (I just had to say that!)  The jam tastes like peach, with a bit of mango, which is actually very tasty.

So I was struck by how I get the same itch.  My mom gets the itch to cook, but I get the itch to clean or organize.  Kind of like a pregnant woman's nesting urge.  (Except without the pregnant part...)  This week it's the carpets.  Barring any emergency, my schedule will be bent to allow for carpet cleaning.  Because I have the itch and it needs attention.  Sometimes it's washing the cars, sometimes it's cleaning out a closet, sometimes it's purging unnecessary stuff.  It's just funny how I was struck this morning as we enjoyed loquat jam on our bagels.  Her jam.  My cleaning.  More alike than different.  I think it made God smile as he made the connection for me.

It has been so enlightening living with my mother these past 6 months.  It's so much more than I could ever see in a short visit.  Watching her make decisions and face difficult health challenges and interact with my kids.  They made shields yesterday.  Tinfoil-covered cardboard shields.  Complete with loops for arms, smaller for Justin and larger for Travis.  They spent over an hour cutting, covering, and decorating their shields.  They won't last forever, but I have no doubt that the memories will.  There are some amazing qualities and experiences savored by little children that become lost in the intermediate years and must be consciously resought by adults.  Parents are often adored by little children and mocked by teenagers.  But hopefully that comes back around to adoration as the children mature and become adults.  These months have allowed my adoration to flourish.  Instead of being distraught that I am becoming my mother, I say that with pride.  There are some impressive qualities that I cherish and hope that can be attributed to me someday.  Just like I desperately hope to inherit some of my grandmother's qualities.  It has given me such pleasure working alongside my mother and having the opportunity to serve her in ways that I had never expected.  I think I have been more blessed than she has been.  That's the way it happens.  It gets you when you least expect it.  I really like that God works that way.  It makes me quite in awe.

So that's what I was thinking this morning.  You can think of me this week as I clean my carpet and I hope you can think of the ways God works that make you smile.