I cannot recall, from the day I started Kindergarten to the day I graduated from high school, ever purchasing a school lunch. Actually, now that I think about it, I do remember Chick
-fil-A days, but that’s totally different!
Every day, for thirteen years, I would open my lunchbox (Spider-Man, Super Friends, A-Team) or my brown paper bag and pull out the following items:
a turkey and cheese sandwich
a bag of chips
two Starbursts
a Slim Jim
a brownie
a napkin
and a handwritten note
For years there was only one brownie in the bag. But in middle school, I started selling it to the highest bidder and using the proceeds for an after-school snack. When my mom learned about my entrepreneurial spirit, she didn’t say a word. She just started packing two – one to sell and one to enjoy! Score!
The notes, however, I would never have sold, not to the highest bidder. Those were priceless. And they still are. In my lunch, there were simple, one-sentence notes of encouragement (usually with a funny sticker attached).
In college, there wasn’t a week that went by that I didn’t open up my mailbox to find a handwritten letter (still with stickers, but often with a couple of dollars enclosed as well). Even now, we know that at some point during the week, there’s going to be a Hallmark card from “Nana” in our mailbox for some lucky winner. Proverbs 31:26 says “Her mouth speaks wisdom, and loving instruction is on her tongue.” Check.
Verse 28 then says “Her children rise up and call her blessed.”
We sure do.
1 Peter 3:4 says “[Let your beauty consist of] what is inside the heart the imperishable quality of a gentle and quiet spirit, which is of great worth in God’s sight.”
That’s her.
Church family, at some point I hope you get to meet her (and her brownies).
Happy Mother’s Day, mom. I love you,
jake