My Mother

A loving and faithful mother is irreplaceable! Today marks the birthday of my dear mother, Frieda Conrad Timm, who was born in São Lourenço do Sul, Brazil, on November 2, 1917. She passed away in 2004, but her memory will remain in my heart forever. When I was a child, she was our children’s Sabbath School teacher at church.

And at home, she would read the junior one-year Bible reading plan to me before I learned how to read. Time passed, and as a teenager, I continued my studies in another city. Just before my departure, she hugged me, kissed me, and said, “Always be faithful!” Those simple words still echo in my mind today.

Ellen White honors mothers with these words: There is a God above, and the light and glory from His throne rests upon the faithful mother as she tries to educate her children to resist the influence of evil. No other work can equal hers in importance. She has not, like the artist, to paint a form of beauty upon canvas, nor, like the sculptor, to chisel it from marble. She has not, like the author, to embody a noble thought in words of power, nor, like the musician, to express a beautiful sentiment in melody.

It is hers, with the help of God, to develop in a human soul the likeness of the divine. And we can add that a loving Christian mother brings heaven close to her family and leads her children into the heavenly courts.

“When the judgment shall sit, and the books shall be opened; when the ‘well done’ of the great Judge is pronounced, and the crown of immortal glory is placed upon the brow of the victor, many will raise their crowns in sight of the assembled universe and, pointing to their mother, say, ‘She made me all I am through the grace of God. Her instruction, her prayers, have been blessed to my eternal salvation.’” Our Christian mothers would like to see our families become sacred units “where life begins and love never ends,” as the anonymous saying goes. May the bonds of love that unite us in this life continue uniting us for all eternity.