You Can Never Lose Your Mother
by J.R. Miller Though all are born dead
in trespasses and sins, in another sense, when a baby is born, its
life is only a patch of soil in which as yet nothing is growing. A mother's hand is the first
to plant seeds there, in the looks of tender love which her
eyes dart into the child's soul, in her smiles and caresses and
croonings, and her thousand efforts to reach the child's heart and
shape its powers, and then in the lessons which she teaches.
All the members of the household soon become sowers also on this
field. As the life begins to open, every
one is dropping some seed into the mellow soil. In a little
while, hands outside the home begin to scatter seeds in the
child's mind and heart, the street, the playground, the school. Later,
books, papers, and pictures contribute their portion. As the years advance,
the experiences of life, the joys, temptations, tasks, trials,
sorrows, all bring their influences. Somewhat, in this way, the character
of the mature man is the growth of seeds sown by a thousand hands
in the life from infancy. All our thoughts, words, and
acts are seeds. They have in them a quality which
makes them grow where they fall, reproducing themselves. This
is true of the good we do. The mother's teachings enter
the mind and heart of her child as mere seeds, but they reappear
in the life of the son or daughter in later years, in strength and
beauty, in nobleness of character and in usefulness of life. Not
only is this strange power in the mother's words, Her acts,
her habits, her tones of voice, the influences that go forth
from her life, are also seeds, having in them a vital principle. Where they lodge, they grow. You can never lose your mother.
She may die, and her body may be buried out of your sight and
laid away in God's acre. You will see her face and hear
her voice no more. No more will her hand scatter
the good seeds of truth and love upon your life's garden. But
you have not lost her. Your mind and heart are full
of the seeds which fell from her hand along the years. These
you can never lose. No hand of death can root them
out of your life. They have grown into the very
fibers of your character. They reappear in your habits,
your dispositions, your feelings and opinions, your modes of thought,
your very phrases and forms of speech. You can never lose your
mother. The threads of her life are woven
inextricably into your life. life, all the noble things that
fall from your hands as you travel along life's paths, are seeds
and will not die. The good things we do, with the
true words we speak, with the faithful example we show, with
all the influences of our life that are Christlike, are living
seeds which we sow in the lives of others, they will not fall
into the ground and perish. They will stay where they drop,
and you will find them again after many days. They will germinate
and grow and yield a harvest. Go on doing the little things,
no matter how small, only making sure that you breathe love into
them. Let them fall where they may,
No matter into what heart, no matter how silently, no matter
how hopeless may seem the soil into which they drop, no matter
how you yourself may appear to be forgotten or overlooked as
you do your deeds of kindness and speak your words of love,
these words and deeds and influences of yours are living seeds and
not one of them shall perish. The same is true, however, of
the evil things we do. They too have in them the quality
of life and reproductiveness. If only our good things were
seeds, this truth would have unmingled encouragement for us.
But it is startling to remember that the same law applies to
the evil things. The man who writes a wicked book,
or paints an unholy picture, or sings an impure song, sets
in motion a procession of unholy influences which will live on
for ever. He too will find his evil words
again in the hearts of men, long, long afterwards, or see his unclean
picture reproduced on men's lives, or hear his unholy song singing
itself over again in the depths of men's being. The evil that
men do lives after them. Bury my influence in my grave
with me, said a wicked man, dying with bitter remorse in his soul. But that is impossible. Sometimes
men who have been sowing evil wake up to the consciousness
of the harm they have been giving to other lives, and go back over
their path, trying to gather up the seeds of sin which they
have cast into human hearts. But the effort is unavailing,
as no one can take out of men's minds and hearts the seeds of
evil he has dropped there. We are not done with life when
we die, we shall meet our acts and words and influences again. Do not be deceived, God is not
mocked, for whatever a man sows, he will also reap. Galatians
6.7. He shall reap the same that he
sows, and he himself shall be the reaper. There is a law of
divine justice in which God requites to every man according to his
deeds. We are not living under a reign
of mere chance. But sometimes it seems as if
the law of justice did not work universally, that some who do
wrong are not requited, and that some who do good receive no reward. But this inequality of justice
is only apparent. Life does not end at the grave. If it did, we might say that
the Lord's ways are not always equal. God's dealings with men
are not closed in this earthly life. The story is continued
through eternity. In this present life, wrong often
seems to go unpunished and virtue unrewarded, but our present lives
are simply unfinished life stories. There are other chapters which
will be written in eternity. When all has been completed,
there will be no inequality, no injustice. All virtue will
have its full reward. and all sin will receive its
due punishment.