Happy 80th birthday, Mom

With the circle still unbroken,(Mom and Dad and all ten children with our spouses,)our 80th birthday celebration for dear Mother on Sundaywas precious indeed! Numbers 6:24-26The LORD bless thee, and keep thee:The LORD make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee:The LORD lift up his countenance upon thee and give thee peace. The laundry lines you filled would reach up to the moon and backAnd we could build skyscrapers with dishes, washed, dried and stacked The meals, prepared with thoughtful, loving labor, by God’s graceWould humble us immensely if gathered into one place Thank-you mom, for your diligence in ‘training up a child’While we outgrew dresses and shoes, while days-to-years ran wildWhile we would laugh and work and play and learn to humbly prayTo our Father up in Heaven to guide us each day You taught us how to find joy in earth’s beauty, grand and freeThough busy you were never blind to God-penned poetryYou showed us (not just told us) when there was a task to learnYou took the time to read or pause to watch the seasons turn You never did complain (or if you did I don’t recall)A helpmeet for your husband and a mother to us allWith love enough to go around with never one left outLove was the priceless plenty we never had cause to doubt What happy days of childhood from heedless innocence slippedFrom ‘now I lay me down to sleep’ to prayers without a scriptFrom ‘Goodnight, yes, I’ll leave the hall light on, at least for now(Unless the talker talked too long and laugher laughed too loud!) Dear mom, I want to thank you, for too often I forgotAnd simply took for granted tasty meals, healthy and hotAnd work-worn hands that did not eat the bread of idlenessBut tended to duty’s demands with cheerful faithfulness I’m thankful for God’s love that has allotted eighty years‘The multitude of sins’ you covered with your prayers and tearsAnd for the treasured memories that sparkle in a troveWhere surely the greatest of these is our sweet mother’s love I pray each day for God to bless and keep you in his careThat come what may you sense the power of His presence thereI thank Him for the gift of a mother who read His WordAnd let us by example with devotion undeterred Happy eightieth Birthday, may the year ahead be blessedWith God’s mercies and if He wills, with health and happinessHappy eightieth birthday, as your numbered days decrease/increaseMay they be overflowing with God’s love and joy and peace © Janet Martin Psalm 71:18Now also when I am old and grayheaded,O God, forsake me not;until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation,and thy power to every one that is to come. Psalm 37:25-26I once was young and now am old,yet never have I seen the righteous abandonedor their children begging for bread.They are ever generous and quick to lend,and their children are a blessing. Psalm 90:12Teach us to number our days,that we may gain a heart of wisdom.