For

a number of years, a Russian peasant woman held

the record for having the most children. She bore

69-including numerous multiple births. She

was most certainly a mother. (And undoubtedly a

tired one.) But, I can't help wondering, was she

a good mother?

What is a good

mother, anyway?

A good mother

doesn't nag - much. Only the essential

amount and only about essential matters. Like

where to squeeze the toothpaste, how to hang up

pants without making eight creases, the

inadvisability of 20-minute showers, and which

noises are easily produced but socially

unacceptable.

A good mother has a

speech that begins, "When I was your age,

kids had it much harder. My mother didn't take me

everywhere. I didn't have all these things you

kids take for granted...." She belts out

this national anthem of motherhood regardless of

the indifference of the crowd. She can make

herself heard over a blaring CD player by

teenagers hanging opossum-like over a bed with a

phone plastered to one ear.

A good mother

cooks, cleans, and launders without expecting to

be appreciated. She knows that only in TV

commercials do kids get excited about fragrant

T-shirts or seeing their reflection in the china.

In real life most kids have lost the directions

to the laundry room and would be content to eat

off paper plates or pizza boxes eternally.

But a good mother

is much more than just a resident reminder

service, cook, cleaning lady, and laundress. A

good mother is a launching pad with a soft lap:

hardheaded about discipline (especially compared

with "everyone else's mother") and

soft-hearted about everything else. She motivates

her children to help them reach their full

potential and praises them whenever she catches

them doing something right.

A good mother gives

her children more than a balanced diet and a roof

over their heads. She teaches them how to feed

their souls and gives them a spiritual foundation

on which to build. She directs them into the

right paths and prays for them when they

occasionally wander off onto others.

A good mother cares

how her children turn out. She doesn't just wait

for them to get out.

Stationary

companies have tried to glorify motherhood by

producing syrupy slogans on plaques. One of the

worst is: "God couldn't be everywhere, so He

created mothers." That phrase may sell a lot

of trivets, but it just isn't so. God is

everywhere, and mothers can't be. I know because

I've tried.

Maybe God created

mothers because He needed someone to keep every

generation reminded of His presence. Good mothers

have been doing that for thousands of years, ever

since Eve held her first wriggling infant in her

arms.

Motherhood doesn't

need to be sentimentally glorified with

ridiculous statements, but it does need to be

respected. It is a high calling, a God-given

challenge.

The writer of

Proverbs 31 described the woman who, like his

mother, was a good mother: "She is clothed

with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the

days to come. She speaks with wisdom, and

faithful instruction is on her tongue. She

watches over the affairs of her household and

does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children

arise and call her blessed" (Proverbs

31:25-28a, New International Version).

As important as

mothers are to us, it is amazing how often we

take them for granted. Mother's Day is a good

time to arise and call your mother blessed, but

any day will do as well - as long as you do

it before it is too late.

Legendary Alabama

football coach Bear Bryant used to remind his

players: "Be sure to call your Mom."

Then he would add wistfully, "I wish I could

call mine."

So do I.

[Vicki Huffman is a

syndicated columnist and former editor with

Thomas Nelson Publishing Co. and David C. Cook

Co. "Real Answers" furnished courtesy

of The Amy Foundation Internet Syndicate. To

contact the author or The Amy Foundation, write

or e-mail to: P. O. Box 16091, Lansing, MI

48901-6091; [email protected]. Visit the website

at www.amyfound.org.]