GUEST BLOGGER: Sherilyn Sheets – “My Mom Is Better Than Yours”

My sister, Sherilyn wrote a GREAT post about our mom on her blog for Mother’s Day. I didn’t ask her for permission, but I’m re-posting it here as a “guest blogger post”.

Enjoy:

MY MOM IS BETTER THAN YOURS (from sherilynsheets.com)

Ok… I know that is so rude and some of you are already ready to fight…..

I don’t mean to start arguments…. but I really do have the best mother.

There have been many women in my life while I was growing up that I secretly wondered how great it would be to be raised in their home. Today… as a 27 yr old woman… I think on those wonderful ladies without a hint of curiosity. I KNOW that my home was the best place for me… and I am sure that is because who better to raise a child than the DNA that created it!

Here are just a few things I randomly am grateful for during a normal day:
* My mom taught me how to carry myself. Today a petite lady came into starbucks and the floor shook. I was flabbergasted! The painful lesson my mother drilled into my head came back… thank you mom for teaching me how to carry myself.
* Putting things away. Last night my friend Andrew crumpled the bag of chips down into the box… and today I thought about how that bugged me and I remembered being taught…over and over… how to re-close an opened box of cereal, crackers, cookies, etc – to keep things fresh! Thank you mom!! (can you teach Andrew?)
* Modesty. Working at Starbucks downtown Naperville gives me a front row seat to the cultural deception about beauty and attraction. I know there have been many times in my life I’ve been tempted away from modesty… but ultimately my mother set an example and raised me to find my value in so many other aspects of femininity that are not publicly sexual. My mother’s amazing handling of feminine modesty protected me as I grew up into a woman – and hopefully I will blossom into the wonderful balance of attractive and modest that my mother does so well!!
* Entertaining. Last week I had 10 people over for Taco Salad – a Sally Sheets classic! The meal of my 16th birthday party! Entertaining 10 people….. there’s no way I am near the level of my mom – but my love for it and my semi-ability in it is directly due to her! I am so grateful for the constant hospitable home we had!!!
* Leadership. This one is weird. My mother has always had many people surrounding her wanting to help her. Somehow she has done a phenomenal job of utilizing the eager and willing and humble hands of friends to pull of wonderful events! I have noticed that I too have these hands around me – all the time it seems!! I also know that I don’t direct them with the grace and confidence that my mother does. I would LOVE to grow more into the type of confident leader that my mother is.
* Invitation. My mother is the inclusive one in my family. My dad is just along for the ride! :) Mom isn’t the “life” of the party – but she sure is the life-source of the party!!! From experience I can say that it is much easier to be the life of than the life-source! The life-source is attentive to the individuals – the life-of is attentive to themselves. The life-source is an artist – the life-of is an entertainer. I desire to grow from the life-of to the life-source of the party!
* Loving the unlovable. My mom sees the unseen. She looks directly at the overlooked. Not only does she see – but she goes towards them. She sits with them. She engages them in conversation. She gives the gift of identity to the dozens of strangers she approaches monthly as she’s out and about. This is probably the one gift my mother has given me that I am most aware of these days. My life has somehow taken on a strong theme that has undoubtedly been birthed from growing up at the side of Sally Sheets. I did not naturally see the unseen – they were pointed out to me. I was taken to them. My vision was molded. I cannot take credit for the heart inside of me that breaks for the overlooked…. it is a gift of God given and taught. What a gift.
* Spiritual authenticity. My mom is real. She’s not perfect – but she is real. My mother’s heart is the most obviously pure heart I have ever known. This gift is the most critical gift my mother has given me. Spiritual authenticity produces character and integrity. To be a woman of character and integrity is oh so rare. Not a woman of perfection or a woman who has it together. A woman of character and integrity falls short with grace and humility – and perseverance to keep striving onward.

Boy…. this has been wonderful to write. I am my mother’s child…. and I am grateful.

Thank you mom. Happy Mother’s Day.

-Sher