By Betsy Ore Glass

I guide you in the way of wisdom and lead you along straight paths. – Proverbs 4:11 NIV

I learned of a tradition associated with Mother’s Day when I was just a little girl. If you wore a white flower on your dress, in your hair or on your lapel on Mother’s Day, it meant that your Mother had passed on; and if you wore a red flower that meant that your Mother was living. As little kids, we mostly wore the red roses we tore off the rose bushes that were on the church grounds on our way to Sunday school. Lots of the grownups did the same thing, but many of them gathered around the white rose bush. That memory is so vivid, yet so long ago. I remember being glad then that I could wear a red rose. And sadly, if I were to choose a rose today, it would be a white one.

God gave each of us a mother. Our relationship with our mother changes and evolves over time. The first smile we saw was our mother’s. Then spending years of nurturing us through childhood, she equally dispensed Kool-Aid and Band-Aids. Teaching us and learning from us all at the same time. Molding and shaping our teenage thoughts with a healthy dose of discipline and love to smooth over the hurts we encountered along the way. Cheering us on with each milestone and letting us go when it was time to start our own life. Then, being available anytime, just in case, and offering advice tenderly when she sees us making a wrong turn. A mother knows to choose her words carefully because they are being stored up on the inside of her children. Whether your mother is here today or in heaven, know that God blesses us with the sound of her voice in our ears and hearts to continually guide us along our path. That is a gift from God to have our mother’s wisdom to hold on to forever.

Betsy Ore Glass has long-standing ties to the Outer Banks. From Virginia Beach, her family bought a vacation cottage in the 60s and her love of the area began. Later in the 90s, Betsy and her husband bought a weekend cottage and introduced the area to their children. Then Betsy’s parents retired to KDH where the family gathered often. Reach her at betsyglass1@gmail.com. To learn more about her books, visit betsyoreglass.com.

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