Mothers give so much. Their entire lives are a gift of love to their families. We journey far from our beginnings, and then something tugs at our heartstrings and draws us home to rediscover who we are and where we came from.

I sat down with my mother a few months before she passed away and asked her some questions about her life. If you haven’t ever done that, I suggest you do. It’s sure to help you appreciate your mother even more.

 Mom told me much about her life and dreams, both fulfilled and unfulfilled.

“Do you have any regrets?” I asked her. “What would you major on if you could live your life again?”

She answered by showing me something she had written in her journal: If I could, I would find more country lanes to walk, bake more cookies, plant more spring bulbs, swim at dusk, walk in the rain, dance under the stars, walk the Great Wall, wade along sandy shores, pick up sea shells and glass, glide through fjords in northern lands, sing country ballads, read more books, erase dismal thoughts, dream up a fantasy.

“Is there any message that you would like to pass on to your children and grandchildren?” was my next question.

Again she flipped through her journal and found the answer already written there: Stop waiting to live until your car is paid off, until you get a new home, until your kids are grown, until you can go back to school, until you finish this or that, until you lose ten pounds.

Flipping a few more pages she came to this entry: Pray for what you wish. God loves to answer because answered prayer deepens faith and adds glory to His name.

And again: Savor the moment. Savor your walking and talking with friends, the smiles of little children. Savor the dazzling light of morning that holds the multicolored way. Savor God’s great earth, rolling hills, the birds, the blooms, the diamond dewdrops glittering on a crab apple tree—all His wonders from His hand.

When I asked how she managed to stay so upbeat even though her health was failing, she turned to this one: What special poet makes your heart ring? Who shines a light on the dark corners of despair, easing the ache, chasing out care? Who makes your feet to dance and your hands to clap? When you have found this one, you will have found a treasure.

As for me, I found my special poet a few months later when I read this, Mom’s farewell poem:

My love to souls whom I have known,

With thanks for tender mercies shown

That kindled hope at winter’s door

And sprinkled petals on the floor

To soften summer’s way.

Be not dismayed nor weep for me,

For I am now forever free

From body’s confines, toil and pain.

Now let me soar to Heaven’s plane

And there with angels play. ■

(Curtis Peter Van Gorder is a full-time volunteer with the Family International in the Middle East.)