Proud to call her "Mama"

     It has been such an honor to be under the parenting and love of my Mama. The Mary Kay that you all know, a woman filled with extravagant joy and crazy love, is the same woman in the privacy of our home (which is an incredible miracle considering that her joy and love have been constant through raising Aaron, Austin, and me!). Her love and joy are as much a part of her as the eyeballs in her sockets. It is the Jesus living in and through her! Though I know her so well, she never ceases to amaze me at how the constancy of her character dictates her response to the unexpected.

     When she received the news this past Wednesday that she had breast cancer, her response was completely supernatural! Though some tears were shed in light of the reality of the journey ahead, I spoke to her on the phone shortly after and she amazed me. Her voice was at peace and her words communicated confident faith in the God she knows so well. She spent the day playing in the heart of Seattle with Grandma Lou (her mother). The next time I talked to her she was laughing atop the Space Needle. Afterwards, they enjoyed the beauty of the Chihuly Garden of Glass. While she was gone I cooked her favorite dish—lasagna—and we had a celebratory dinner that evening—we celebrated the beginning of a new season of seeing the faithfulness and completion of the Cross of Christ.

     Again today, I was reminded of her supernatural joy when we unexpectedly ran into each other at our favorite frozen yogurt place. (Apparently she awoke before Daddy from a nap and thought she would pass the time by celebrating with ice cream! I love it!) Every day we awake we are driven by the selfish pursuit of Jesus in everything and through everything. And Mama has led this pursuit for our family in discovering the grandiosity of Jesus in the circumstances of breast cancer.

     The flood of joy is, at times, intermingled with drops of sadness. Today on her way out to church, she asked me, “How does my hair look?” It was such a natural question, yet it caught us both off guard in a moment of silence. We looked into each other’s eyes with mutual understanding and I whispered in reply, “Mama, your hair is beautiful.” We embraced and allowed the tears to coat our cheeks, knowing the day was coming all too soon when her thick head of hair would gradually fall out. Yet, this solemn hug ended in laughter as Mama said, “I wonder if it will come in blonde and curly!”

     It may or may not surprise you to hear that our home is filled with the same amount of warm laughter and smiles from Mama. She is a woman of celebration, a constant reminder to me that Jesus came to bring life and life abundantly. What an honor to have a mama who is determined to experience full richness of abundant life in the face of serious illness. What causes many people to react in fear and worry has propelled Mama deeper into the pit of eternal bliss. Personally, seeing Mama respond in such supernatural joy has left me in greater awe of the beautiful Cross. The Cross made a way for Jesus Christ to indwell us with the fullness of Himself and the fruit of His Spirit—He is the Fountain of Love, Joy, Peace... And she has demonstrated that in times of uncertainty it is not about reacting to an external but responding to an internal. And internally she has everything she needs—Jesus Christ Himself. Wow! I honor this amazing woman, a walking demonstration of the Gospel. I, along with Aaron and Austin, proudly join in Proverbs 31:28, “Her children arise and call her blessed.”