My mom entered God’s presence November 29, 2018. She was 90. These past few months I’ve wondered what mom’s response would have been to the pandemic. My guess is she would have howled at the jokes and puns, adding her own pithy humor. And my guess is she would have wept with those who wept. Mostly, I think she would have penned some poems.

I miss her.

But I rejoice she and dad saw fit to publish her poems and stories. Below are two of her poems I thought might encourage us.

Reassurance

Now I lay me down to slumber

Grateful for the host unnumbered

Watching o’ere me, vigils keeping –

Guarding angels, never sleeping.

 

If I should die before I wake

I know my Lord will sure take

My soul to be with Him in Heaven,

For all my sins have been forgiven.

 

But if I wake before I die

And greet another morning sky,

His promised grace will then be given,

For Jesus prays for me in Heaven.

 

My God: Omnipotent and Omnipresent

MY GOD – Whom I knew not, yet He knew me.

MY GOD – Who saw the things I couldn’t seen.

 

MY GOD – Who gave me loving folks and kin,

MY GOD – Who nagged me with a sense of sin.

 

MY GOD – Who worked all things together for my good –

MY GOD – Who in spite of my confusion, understood.

 

MY GOD – Who turned the threats of some to naught,

MY GOD – Who in frightening times, deliverance brought.

 

MY GOD – Who brought heartbreak and defeat;

MY GOD – Who sent a loving neighbor, sweet.

 

MY GOD – Who’s borne my griefs and every sorrow

MY GOD – Who gives me hope for each tomorrow.

 

MY GOD – OMNIPOENT – The One who kept me in His care!

MY GOD – OMNIPRESENT – The One who’s always, always there!

 

From Spider in the Palace, by Betty Jo Mathis, Copyright 1980