IF ONLY I'D ASKED

I need my Mama today!

 I need her tender understanding and I'm so longing for her wisdom! 

If I could have her precious self back for just a little while, there is no doubt in my mind what I would do! I would sit at her feet and ask her SO many questions and glean every ounce of wisdom I might have missed from her 83 years of life! 

 This is the one thing that I wish I'd done more of! 

 I learned so much from her but it saddens my heart with such grief to think what more I could have learned if only I'd been wise enough to ask! 

 My mother wasn't a perfect person but I'm sure that the mistakes she made became one of the very sources of her wisdom! 

 I'd like to tell her about the season of life I'm in now and I would ask, 

"How should I handle this? 
 What's the most important thing I should be focusing on now? 
 What are your thoughts about the decisions I'm making? 
 How do you think this will play out in the future? 
 Did you ever feel this way? 
 What should I do? 
 What things worked for you? 
 What things didn't work? 
 What advice can you give me for living out this stage and the rest of the stages of my life?" ..

...And every other question I could think of! 

 I would tell her that I SO value her advice and counsel! 
 I would tell her that her wisdom is of monumental importance to me and that I'm so very sorry that I didn't recognize just HOW important her wisdom was before it was too late. 
 I would tell her how much I admire her; that I honor her beyond words! 
And I would mean it! 

 This week an older woman said to me, "Bonnie, you will find that the older you get, the more invisible you will become. No one wants your advice anymore. No one asks for or values your wisdom." 

 That is about the saddest thing I've ever heard! 

 What on earth has happened in a society where younger people do not honor their elders anymore? Older people who have walked further down the road than we have are a gold mine of wisdom! An absolute treasure! To pass that up is nothing short of foolish pride and we are so much the poorer for it! 

 Mama is gone. No matter how much I wish for her back, there can be no more questions. 

But maybe, just maybe, there's another "someone's Mama" out there and maybe she'd let me borrow some wisdom that I'd have gotten from my own, IF ONLY I'D ASKED! 

And.....if someone out there is lucky, they'll read this blog and they'll never have to say, "If Only I'd Asked." 

"My son, keep your father's commands and do not forsake your mother's teaching. Bind them upon your heart forever; fasten them around your neck. When you walk, they will guide you; when you sleep, they will watch over you; when you awake, they will speak to you." Proverbs 6:20-22