(TB: This post first ran on Baylyblog in 2004. It is a tribute to Mom Taylor and David's and my mother, Mary Lou Bayly. Both are mothers in Israel and we give thanks for them to our Heavenly Father. But of course, we also give thanks for our own wonderful wives! The tribute starts with a poem Dad wrote on the back of a Mother's Day card he gave to Mud just a couple years before his death. The reference to three and four at the end of the poem is Dad alluding to their three children who had already died and their four children who were still alive.)
To M.L. (Mary Lou)
Mother’s Day, 1982
—to celebrate your creation of children
What a Holy Spirit calling:
To create an infant
within yourself
Your very inmost self—Nourish, protect, prepare
Then bring to birth
Nurse, feed
—run between stove and table in teenage—
Teach, discipline, hope, expect
Love
And all the while pray
with faith in God
Bring to safe harbor
through calm and storm
and monstrous waves
to wholeness
and useful life
on earth
in heaven
That God should call
three to live and serve there
four to live and serve here
What a calling!
My mother-in-law studied for her degree in Home Economics during the late '30s and early '40s, graduating summa cum laude from Oregon State University. After marrying her childhood sweetheart, she gave birth to 10 children in 14 years. Her husband, engaged for most of the years when the family was young as editorial director of a religious publishing house, brought home low wages, so frugality was a necessity and the degree served this young mother and her family well.
Food preservation, hygiene, cooking, sewing, and home budgeting were part of the home ec curriculum and, along with the liberal arts training which came with every bachelor's degree at the time, these young women graduated with specialized training for their profession of choice--motherhood. Other women took similarly helpful majors in Elementary Education, Bible, Christian Education (my own mother's major), and Nursing.
Then came the frontal assault on housewifery and motherhood carried out largely by a new and powerful aristocracy...
A friend of mine was commenting recently on my love for the church. It put me in mind of when and where I learned that love.
(2008) I received a poem by e-mail this past week and asked its author if she would allow me to post it. The poem is a wonderfully conceived summary of the two paths women choose today. One ends in death, the other in life.
Yesterday, 
Much of modern theology is written by scholars for scholars, but John Frame and Vern Poythress are churchmen. Most of their writing is written for the Church and can be understood by layman. John and Vern's academic credentials and the brains God gave them would have allowed them to live with their heads in the clouds. Instead, they humbled themselves and taught people like you and me. 
Yesterday was the last day of public service for Chris Atkins (Chris is at the mic) who served in the administrations of both Governors Mitch Daniels and Mike Pence, ending his service yesterday as Director of Indiana's Office of Management and Budget. Chris and his wife, Shallen, were at Clearnote during their years in Bloomington. Chris got his law degree at IU, and following work for a couple policy groups in D.C., Gov. Daniels brought him back to Indiana where Chris has faithfully served as one of our civil magistrates, presiding under two governors over conservative fiscal policies that have made our Hoosier state 
Last night I was able to attend the dedication of the new church-house of Christ the Word, and what a privilege it was!