Great Cathedrals

Maybe all this preoccupation with thoughts of my mother are normal when you lose someone as recently as I have, March 5th to be exact. All those closest to her have spent much time in reflection on her life and her struggles, which were many. We have discussed or written about when grief suddenly hits us and how we are coping. It is different for each of us. I am not a gifted writer like my niece Kristen or my son Brad but have been compelled to write down my thoughts of my mom on my blog. I suppose this is to preserve these thoughts so that as time dulls the ache left by her absence, I will not forget my heritage or my legacy from a truly great woman.

I recently read a short essay about great cathedrals in Europe. No one can say who built the great cathedrals as there seems to be no record. But it took years and years to build them and many times the workmen never saw the work even completed. The story is told of a rich man who came to visit a cathedral during construction. He saw a workman carving a tiny bird into one of the great supporting beams. He asked the workman why he was spending so much time on something that would never be seen. The workman replied “Because God Sees”. It is said that no great cathedrals will be built in our lifetime because there are no workman who would be devoted enough to spend their lives building something they might never see to completion.

I saw my mother’s life reflected in the words of the essay. She never saw the completed greatness of her life’s greatest work, which was the investment of love and beauty to her children, grandchildren, great grandchildren and the generations that follow. She loved us all for our differences and appreciated us for the God given gifts she saw manifested in our lives. She often spoke of the challenge of having a large family. It seemed we were cooking and washing clothes all the time, when I was growing up. We all had to help with the work of our large family, but we all can cook and clean and wash because she was teaching us in the process of living life. Some of her friends commented about her not being able to do some of the things they did because of her large family. Many times in her later years she commented on the blessing of her family and especially during the last weeks of her life when we all contributed to her well-being during her passing.

I think of the sacrifices she made so that we always had a good Christmas. Sometimes the gifts were very simple but she made the presentation special. She always started planning early so we could have gifts on a crowded budget. She did get up at 4 or 5 in the morning to bake chocolate, lemon or coconut cream pies and put the turkey on to cook. Or she would bake homemade cinnamon rolls while we were at school on a cold winter day so that when we got home from school we were met with their sweet aroma welcoming us home. This might be on a day when we were running low on food so she hoped this would distract us from the fact that supper was going to be very sparse.

As a mother she was building a great cathedral for the world. Of course it is invisible so the world will never marvel at what she built or at the beauty that has been added to the world by her sacrifices but we as her children know and we marvel.