Mother's Prayer and Blessed Hope

The words echo in our ears and are written on our heart.

We gathered to celebrate my mother's ninetieth birthday. Her nine children and their spouses surrounded her as she opened her gifts. After the last gift was opened my mother stood to speak. Mother shared with us her prayer, her blessing, her benediction for her children, her grandchildren and her great grandchildren. We all know the prayer by heart, For many of us it is the prayer that we now pray for our children and grandchildren and one day for our great grandchildren.

Mother said, "I ask God for one hundred fold, that all my descendants will know Jesus Christ as their Savior. I pray that you will walk in the truth. I pray that you will fervently love each other." Mother then spoke of the blessed hope that she has, the glorious appearing of our great God and Savior, Jesus Christ. This blessed hope of the second coming of Jesus was passed from her grandmother Nell Gillespie to her father and mother and then to her. It was urgent to mother that this baton which had been passed down to her should be passed onto the next generation.

Jesus' first coming was spoken of as, "the tender mercies of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace" (Luke 2:78,79). The Dawn came and the light shown, yet there were many who chose to stay in the darkness because they rejected the truth. They were unlike Simeon who was looking forward to and waiting for the promised coming of the Messiah.

The exhortation my ninety-year-old mother gave to her children is an echo of what Peter said. "I think it right as long as I am in this body to stir you up by way of reminder, since I know that the putting off of my body will be soon, as our Lord Jesus Christ made clear to me. And I will make every effort so that after my departure you may be able at any time to recall these things" (2 Peter:13-15). And what was the exhortation of both my mother and the apostle Peter? "So we have the prophetic word strongly confirmed. You will do well to pay attention to it, as a lamp shining in a dismal place, until the day dawns and the morning star arises in your hearts" (2 Peter 1:19).

My mother's eyes shone with the light of eternity when she spoke her benediction and shared her hope. As I listened to her voice, I heard an echo of the angels' voices when Jesus was taken up into heaven, "This same Jesus who has been taken from you into heaven, will come in the same way that you have seen Him going into heaven" (Acts 1:11). I add my prayer to that of my mother--that all my descendants would know Jesus Christ as their Savior, that they would walk in the truth, love each other fervently and keep their eyes on the Eastern sky.