Be You Very Well

Happy Birthday, Mom!!!

My Mom’s birthday today turns out to fall on National Motivation and Inspiration Day, a lovely serendipity. Who else but a mom who has always loved you unconditionally, believed in you when you couldn’t even believe in yourself, and encouraged you over and over about all those messy areas of your life—some of which are going to be around for the rest of your life—and who you count among your closest friends, should receive the Motivation and Inspiration crown (if there were one)? Again, Happy Birthday, Mom, and thanks so much for ALWAYS believing in me, being a blessing and encouragement to me in ways great and small, and never giving up on me when I made things difficult for you and Da’ in my younger years.

Who are those that motivate and inspire you in your life? I can think of several in my life, starting with my awesome hubby and teen son. They are both great guys whose choices in life remind me to make better choices myself—both for myself and them and the rest of the world with whom I will come into contact in some way during the rest of my life. There are close friends who never cease to amaze me by helping boost my spirits when I’m struggling with depression or anxiety or whatever other limits my health imposes on me. Their encouragement with my literary “little engine that could” of a blog is also much appreciated. Then there are my other family members who mean so much to me, particularly my folks and my sister, because they know me warts and all and still love me. If that doesn’t motivate me to be the best version of myself that I can, I don’t know what could! I also have extended family who are wonderfully supportive.

Additionally, my pastor, fellow parishioners–with certain ones in mind who’ve gone the extra effort to let me into their lives–along with my bishop are a source of motivation and inspiration not just in spiritual things but in meeting life with courage and grace.  Finally, there are friends flung far and wide who still keep in touch that I occasionally get to hang out with—either in person or via FaceTime or even social media—and their continued desire to remain an integral part of my life at whatever level is such a lovely blessing.

So, on this day when I get to celebrate having such a terrific mom and stop for a moment and think of all the other people who motivate and inspire me—including a good many of them having passed beyond this life, and some I never even met because they lived before me or before I was old enough to have formed an adult relationship with them: various people from the Bible, assorted saints, beloved family members and friends, Madeleine L’Engle, C.S. Lewis, Elizabeth Goudge, Thomas Merton, and Agatha Christie to name a few—I’m grateful that I can remember to be grateful for both my mom and for them every year on this day. I also benefit from the gentle nudge to be the kind of person that mom and the others are to me. Thanks be to God!