The Best Mom in the World:  Recently I officiated at a small family memorial service.  There was no obituary and the name of the woman we were remembering doesn't matter in the telling of the story.  Like all lives, hers had its ups and downs and maybe a few more downs than most.

Listed among the deceased's survivors was a daughter who had not known her mom for much of her life.  There had been a too-early birth and the baby had been adopted, a kind and generous decision of which no one knows the details anymore. 

As I talked with cousins and aunts and others in preparation for the service, several of them told me about the daughter.  "She didn't meet her mother until she was older," they said, "and for awhile it was awkward, but then something happened and having this daughter in her life became very important." 

As the family gathered for the service, one of the cousins asked me to come and meet someone.  Two women, one younger and one older sat in a pew just a row or two back from the rest of the family.  "This is _____, my cousin's daughter," she said introducing me to the younger woman, "And this is her mother," she added, telling me the name of the older woman. 

Following the service I talked with the two women and listened as they told their story.  They are as close as a mother and daughter can be and clearly love each other.  But they said that as the daughter grew older and into adulthood she felt a growing desire to find and meet her birth mother.  Rather than being anxious or resentful, the mother did everything she could to help her daughter.  In time, and thanks to her mother's relentless efforts, the birth mother was found and the relationship re-established.  For a variety or reasons, geography being a primary one, they did not see each often, but they always stayed in touch. 

I listened to the story, and when they were done telling it I thought about the great love the adoptive mother had for her daughter, 1 Corinthians 13 love. 

Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

We talked a little more, and as our conversation ended, the daughter said, "I have the best mom in the world." 

In God's time she had gained again her birth mother.  In God's providence she had, not long after birth, been given the best mom in the world.

Bring your best mom in the world to worship with you on Sunday.