Recognize Your Mom for Real

This morning I read a brief article on npr.org about the founding of Mother's Day 100 years ago. The article was called "Mother's Day Founder Opposed Commercialization."

Ann Jarvis, the founder of Mother's Day, hated the idea of commercializing Mother's Day. Most of us these days send our mothers card or flowers or gifts, but "Anna Jarvis would want us to give mothers a white carnation — she felt it signified the purity of a mother's love." And when the holiday continued down the path of materialism "Jarvis became known for scathing letters in which she would berate people who purchased greeting cards, saying they were too lazy to write personal letters 'to the woman who has done more for you than anyone in the world.'"

Jarvis died in 1948 and was arrested earlier that year on Mother's Day for disturbing the peace in protest of a Mother's Day celebration in New York.

In 2008 it was estimated that Americans will spend a grand total of $15 billion on their mothers.

Mothers deserve to be recognized. But not with blatant materialism. They deserve to be honored with our words and our actions and our appreciation. Thank God for them. Abraham Piper used his blog, "22 Words", as the venue to honor his mother.

If you want to honor your mother more than with the greeting card, e-card, flowers, or even jewelry that you bought her, then write her a poem, a song, a letter, or just make a list of things that you appreciate about her. That would honor her deeply.