ONLINE CHURCH BULLETIN

ONE ROSE

Motherhood took me by surprise. One day I was a single woman living at the beach with a ten-year career as a flight attendant, and the next, a wife and mother of four. And, it happened almost that quickly.

I met and married my husband within months of meeting him. I had gone to visit my grandmother in the hospital and was introduced to her surgeon, my soon-to-be spouse. I had learned a year before meeting him that I was unable to have children of my own. So, upon leaming that he had to sons from a previous marriage that didn't work out, and that they were moving in with us, life seemed like an episode from Ozzie and Harriet (updated to my keeping a solid career). His sons were nine and ten when their mother put them on an airplane from the East Coast and "shipped" them to the West Coast, having very limited contact with them for the next eight years. My husband left their mother when they were only two and three years old, and the courts granted her custody (go figure). So, we vere all literally stangers under one roof. Ironically, no sooner had I married my husband, then I became pregnant with our own child. The day after his sons moved in with us, our son was born (a month early). Three children within two days! Two years later, I gave birth to our second son.

I remember times when I would be so overwhelmed that I could only tell myselfover and over, "One day they will thank you." I don't remember a lot of those tumultuous years. There was a lot of chauffeuring to and from Little League games, a lot of getting up at three in the morning to get to ice hockey practice by five, banquets, PTA meetings, and "short-order" cooking. I remember witnessing the growing pains of two young men going through adolescence. Their father was often away, their biological mother completely out of the picture, their two half-brothers often felt like an annoyance to them, and their stepmother never seemed able to meet their needs. Yet, I knew in mv heart that one day they would look back and realize that I did love them as my own and that I did my best.

When my oldest stepson graduated from high school, their biological mother decided to finally pay a visit. The graduation ceremony ,was held outside at dusk, and my husband and his "ex" stood together and watched with pride as 'their," son received his diploma. My other stepson stayed by their side. I stood off a slight distance away with our two sons. There was a strange twist to this graduation ceremony, however. The principal of the high school delivered a speech that included a theme of "giving a rose to the person who has meant the most to you in you, life." I found that odd, but each graduating senior held in their hands one red rose. Upon receiving their diploma, each student walked up to the person and handed them their rose. To this day I will never forget the feeling of holding that rose in my hands'.

When Paul wrote to Timothy in 2 Timothy 1:5, he said, "when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is to you, which dwelt first in you grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also," he was giving a rose to Lois and Eunice. As we celebrate Mother's Day today, let's not forget to give roses to those who have done so much for me. Who have made sacrifice after sacrifice that we might have it a little easier or better.

by Tim Woodward
Smithville Church of Christ