When Seasons Collide . . .
For most, the coming day we celebrate for Mothers, is all about blessing Mom! She gets breakfast in bed, perhaps a manicure or massage downtown. She might be treated to lunch or dinner out, be showered with cards made of paper and money. She might be given a rose in Church and her kids often make her special Mothers' Day crafts and draw her their best childhood drawing.
Those kids grow up! My own kids are now 18 and 20, and last June, they both graduated from High School! That's right, two kids graduated from two different schools in the same year. No, they are not twins. One repeated a grade and the other started school early, resulting in them being in the same grade during their elementary years.
So here I am in 2014, with both kids out in the workforce now, and looking at Mother's Day from a whole new perspective. Last year around this time, I was just clicking "approve" on the gift I intended to give both my grads on their special days in June. I couldn't announce it to the world very well, because they are both online and I didn't want the surprise wrecked before the big day. This year, I can say something, and find myself saying it around the Mother's Day season.
Is this a coincidence? Somehow this year, I don't think so. The title of the book I wrote for my graduating teenagers was, "Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate". The focus was me offering pithy tidbits of advice, one per page, that would seek to guide my kids into the adult world in areas such as spiritual growth, grocery shopping and food management, household financial management, car care, personal care, interpersonal care covering such things as dating and friendship. Because I'm a hands-on person, I included sample personal devotional charts, a grocery budget sample, and other charts and tables to illustrate the various tips offered. Turning to Scripture for these various areas revealed more than I needed at only one verse per page. By the time I was done, my "little" 4x6" book had over 300 pages in it! That's almost enough for one tip per day for a year!
This year, instead of being the one to receive all the gifts and accolades, why not be the one to give them instead? Why not turn the tables this Mother's Day and surprise the graduate in your life with a gift they'll remember for years to come?
This year, I published another book that would make a good companion gift, called "Dressed for Eternity". This book takes a look at the foundations of the New Jerusalem and the stones of Aaron's breastplate, asking why God chose those stones and do they have properties and application to the church today? The same thing is done with the clothing and jewelry God adorns Jerusalem with in Exekiel and the robes described in Isaiah. The book discusses things that can soil or wrinkle our spiritual clothing and how to do spiritual laundry. Lastly, the book discusses the thorny issue of modesty!
In my research for that section of the book, it became abundantly clear that too many youth and young adults today are thoroughly burned by how the church is presenting the modesty issue. Teachers in the church mean well, but they are unwittingly contributing to the rebellion we are seeing in our youth. I had two very opinionated people read this section in order to get their take on it, and to my relief, both loved it!
"Mom's Little Black Book: Godly Advice for the High School Graduate" is available at most places online for roughly $12 plus shipping for the paperback version, and $5+ for the PDF version.
"Dressed for Eternity" is available online for anywhere from $49 to $68. But if purchased from me at my blog's store, storenvy, or as of today, gumroad, it can be purchased in paperback for $36 plus shipping, or $9.95 for the electronic version.
I'm offering both books in paperback as a bundle from my blog website, for $40 plus shipping from now until July 31st. The link to get this offer is:
Click the paypal button at the end of the blog article.Mother's Day and graduation season have collided. While everyone else is out spoiling you, why don't you slip under the radar and surprise your graduating family members as well?
