If they stopped, it was false labor if they did not, it was the real thing. I remembered hearing her doctor tell her that if the pains were indeed false labor, she should just lie down for a couple of hours to see if they would pass. Not that I knew anything about false labor, but I had heard that there was such a thing. “Are you sure it’s not false labor?” I asked. HA! We were not particularly concerned about it we just wanted to have done with it! If today WERE the day, both of us would be relieved. Three-and-a-half years before, our David had been kind enough to make his appearance six days early, so we had hoped that this one would be equally prompt. This child was already five days overdue and both of us were getting anxious about it. I was hoping that she was right…that today WOULD be the day. About every ten or twelve minutes, but not bad…they only last about fifteen seconds.”īy this time, I was really awake. One wants to always sound intelligent but at that hour my question probably came out “`at’s `e madder?” My eye caught sight of something in the pre-dawn darkness. Normally, I am not awake at that hour but on this particular day I was beginning to stir. It was a Tuesday, about 5:30 in the morning. She has been reminding me for weeks that March 27th was coming up, but she did not have to. As we stood in the sacristy awaiting the time to enter the sanctuary, I told her, “Just one piece of advice…Ma, you should not have any more children, because you are old and set in your ways and you would not have enough energy to handle them.” She stuck her tongue out at me. So THERE, Mother!Ī ways back, I had the honor and privilege of officiating at my mom’s second marriage after many years of widowhood. HA! Well, we DID have children, and I have had a wonderful time with them. You are old and set in your ways, and you wouldn’t have enough patience to deal with them.” (I was 33 at the time.) She continued, “God was very smart in letting us have children when we are young, because that’s the only time in our lives when we have enough energy to handle them.” Who woulda thunk it? Years ago, when I told my mother that I was getting married, her reply was, “Well, that’s fine, David, but you ought not to have any children. This week will be my daughter’s 18th birthday. Sermon John 12:12-16 Sometimes You’ve Got to Shout!

Too short shout it out