Thoughts on Mother’s Day

Courtesy of the Coate Family Archives

Mary Coate.

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It was no surprise to me on Sunday to hear a Mother’s Day sermon when I went to church. Nor was I surprised at the verse shown on the congregational video screen, “Her children arise and call her blessed.” It is a verse from Proverbs that I like to share with my children on Mother’s Day.

Actually, it is one of several verses from Proverbs 31 that are special to me when I think about my wife, Mary, and her impact on our family. They can be found in the epilogue of Chapter 31, “A wife of Noble Character, who can find?”

On Mother’s Day, our daughter and son gathered at our home to honor my wife and their mother. We’ve done this now for 60 years, and as we shared these thoughts from Proverbs with Mary this year, I added something of my own. I told her that when God decreed that she was to be my wife, He knew that it was not going to be an easy road for her. There would be times that she would hurt, but the Almighty ordained it anyway, because He knew that there would be times that her husband would need her desperately; that he could not live without her.