Today, on this Mother’s Day of 2025, I am remembering my mother. She passed away in 2010. As a young girl, she experienced the pain of her parent’s divorce in a day when such things were frowned upon. She grew up in the deep South. She only had one pair of shoes because money was tight in the Depression. She wore her single pair of shoes to school and to church. The rest of the time she went barefoot.

My mother would become an aspiring actress. He passion to act and sing drew her to California in search of an acting job. The picture I displayed is one of her promotional photos that she submitted to ad agencies in Hollywood. Eventually my mom and my grandmother moved to San Francisco in the late 1930s and opened a business. While in San Francisco, my mom performed in dance and acting in several venues, finally acting on the prestigious stage at the Mark Hopkins Hotel in the city. After my mom passed away, I gave my daughter my mother’s stage dancing shoes as a remembrance of her history.

One of the most important and meaningful things my mother did for me was to encourage me in a time of fear and depression when I wanted to abandon my calling to attend bible college and give up. It was her encouragement and words of wisdom that kept me in the lane of my calling and not give up. Soon, after following my mother’s words of wisdom, I met a beautiful young woman named Janice Parry who would become my wife.

A Godly mother’s influence on her children’s life has tremendous potential. Following the path of that influence will lead us to wonderful experiences we would not have without the loving presence of a mother who is committed to God and to the lives of her children.