Greetings!
Christy Somerville (CJ) here! I respectfully but unashamedly beg to interrupt your regularly scheduled blog in order to honor my mother on her 50th birthday. At noon on a Tuesday exactly fifty years ago, Marcia Somerville came into the world. She has been blessing people ever since.
There are so many things that I might tell you about my mother. I could relate the course of her various brief careers as a ski instructor, a radio DJ, a drama major and later a director of Greek plays, a European tour guide, and a bona fide artist of clay and pottery (really!--We still have the wheel and kiln.).
I could also tell you about her love for trying new things, including her latest favorite: saltwater aquariums. I will show you pictures of the last one, because it's pretty impressive for a 49-year-old who is a self-professed math and science dunce to take up all the finicky salt-and-light-and-algae-and-water-and-chemicals management of her own 3 X 6 foot saltwater reef tank! She loves to do this with Dad (who is the math/science whiz and engineer extraordinaire of the project), and she has even learned to solder tank partitions and build complicated-looking compartments in their "Engine Room." See?
But look at the results; haven't they done a beautiful job?
The fish tank is just the latest wrinkle. Over the years I have watched Mom tackle jobs as various as building and decorating her dream house, learning to garden, maintaining, strengthening, and beautifying her marriage, and simultaneously acting as teacher, boss, best friend, counselor, nurse, and best of all, Mom, to her growing and grown-up children.
A few nights ago we all gathered to celebrate Mommy's birthday. As is traditional in our home, we went around the table and honored her for the various evidences of God's grace that we have seen in the past year. My older brothers pointed out her faithfulness and perseverance, which they now especially appreciate as head-of-households. My younger brother and I, who get to work with her every day, talked about how much we enjoy the humor of the office and love it that she is our boss. My little sisters, aged 20 and 17, talked about how they have grown to appreciate her as a friend and confidante as they step into college and womanhood. Daddy said how amazing it was to him that he knows her so well and yet she still surprises and delights him every time he turns around.
All these are wonderful things. But I want to say again here one of the things that I said to her that night, which I think we kids and Dad would all agree is the most important thing. This is the substance of it,
"Mommy," I said, looking down the long, heavy-laden family table to where she sat beside Dad, "I love you for so many reasons. I love having you for a friend. I love your sense of humor. I love the way you try new things, especially since I'm afraid of them! But most, most of all, I love it that you have made the Gospel real to me. You know I'm not a very trusting person, and if I could see that the Gospel didn't really make a difference in your life and Daddy's, I wouldn't have accepted it. And if I hadn't accepted it, I wouldn't have this sense of peace, of knowing who I am and what I'm about, of being happy and content, that I see lacking in the lives of so many singles around me. I wouldn't have hung my life on the Good News. Your example hasn't been perfect, but it has been genuine. You've shown that the Gospel works. You've made it real, and beautiful. I'm going to live the rest of my life by the Gospel, and in a big way, that's because of your day-in and day-out example. I love you for that."
So Mommy, just to reiterate... it's not the clothes you wear; it's not the way you do your hair. It's not because you're adorably cute, and it's not because you have such fun hobbies. It's not because you try new things, or because you're well-educated and gifted. It's not because you're perfectly competent, or perfectly patient, or perfectly trusting in God (you would be the first to say that you aren't any of those things!). It's not because you're the best boss ever and the "most funnest" person in the world with whom I could be writing a curriculum. It isn't even because you love other moms like all get out. In short, it's not because you are some sort of perfect SuperWonderfulFrabjousGodly Homeschooling Mom (none of us are that!). It's because you love God, and your life shows that loving God is better than anything else.
You once taught me never to underestimate the power of an example, whether good or bad. Mommy, I don't think I could underestimate the power of your example. How kind, how unspeakably kind of God, to save you out of your sin and make you into what you are today! The Gospel is effective. It's effect on you dazzles me every day of my life, and makes me more in love with God than ever.
Christy Somerville (CJ) here! I respectfully but unashamedly beg to interrupt your regularly scheduled blog in order to honor my mother on her 50th birthday. At noon on a Tuesday exactly fifty years ago, Marcia Somerville came into the world. She has been blessing people ever since.
There are so many things that I might tell you about my mother. I could relate the course of her various brief careers as a ski instructor, a radio DJ, a drama major and later a director of Greek plays, a European tour guide, and a bona fide artist of clay and pottery (really!--We still have the wheel and kiln.).
I could also tell you about her love for trying new things, including her latest favorite: saltwater aquariums. I will show you pictures of the last one, because it's pretty impressive for a 49-year-old who is a self-professed math and science dunce to take up all the finicky salt-and-light-and-algae-and-water-and-chemicals management of her own 3 X 6 foot saltwater reef tank! She loves to do this with Dad (who is the math/science whiz and engineer extraordinaire of the project), and she has even learned to solder tank partitions and build complicated-looking compartments in their "Engine Room." See?
But look at the results; haven't they done a beautiful job?
The fish tank is just the latest wrinkle. Over the years I have watched Mom tackle jobs as various as building and decorating her dream house, learning to garden, maintaining, strengthening, and beautifying her marriage, and simultaneously acting as teacher, boss, best friend, counselor, nurse, and best of all, Mom, to her growing and grown-up children.
A few nights ago we all gathered to celebrate Mommy's birthday. As is traditional in our home, we went around the table and honored her for the various evidences of God's grace that we have seen in the past year. My older brothers pointed out her faithfulness and perseverance, which they now especially appreciate as head-of-households. My younger brother and I, who get to work with her every day, talked about how much we enjoy the humor of the office and love it that she is our boss. My little sisters, aged 20 and 17, talked about how they have grown to appreciate her as a friend and confidante as they step into college and womanhood. Daddy said how amazing it was to him that he knows her so well and yet she still surprises and delights him every time he turns around.
All these are wonderful things. But I want to say again here one of the things that I said to her that night, which I think we kids and Dad would all agree is the most important thing. This is the substance of it,
"Mommy," I said, looking down the long, heavy-laden family table to where she sat beside Dad, "I love you for so many reasons. I love having you for a friend. I love your sense of humor. I love the way you try new things, especially since I'm afraid of them! But most, most of all, I love it that you have made the Gospel real to me. You know I'm not a very trusting person, and if I could see that the Gospel didn't really make a difference in your life and Daddy's, I wouldn't have accepted it. And if I hadn't accepted it, I wouldn't have this sense of peace, of knowing who I am and what I'm about, of being happy and content, that I see lacking in the lives of so many singles around me. I wouldn't have hung my life on the Good News. Your example hasn't been perfect, but it has been genuine. You've shown that the Gospel works. You've made it real, and beautiful. I'm going to live the rest of my life by the Gospel, and in a big way, that's because of your day-in and day-out example. I love you for that."
So Mommy, just to reiterate... it's not the clothes you wear; it's not the way you do your hair. It's not because you're adorably cute, and it's not because you have such fun hobbies. It's not because you try new things, or because you're well-educated and gifted. It's not because you're perfectly competent, or perfectly patient, or perfectly trusting in God (you would be the first to say that you aren't any of those things!). It's not because you're the best boss ever and the "most funnest" person in the world with whom I could be writing a curriculum. It isn't even because you love other moms like all get out. In short, it's not because you are some sort of perfect SuperWonderfulFrabjousGodly Homeschooling Mom (none of us are that!). It's because you love God, and your life shows that loving God is better than anything else.
You once taught me never to underestimate the power of an example, whether good or bad. Mommy, I don't think I could underestimate the power of your example. How kind, how unspeakably kind of God, to save you out of your sin and make you into what you are today! The Gospel is effective. It's effect on you dazzles me every day of my life, and makes me more in love with God than ever.
Beautifully written Christy. I couldn't agree more.~Yvonne