My Mother Believes In Me!

I just got back from visiting my mom. We were creating a mother, daughter photo with Great Grandma Ruth's oatmeal cake for an upcoming wedding shower. I had a small window of time and so as we put the ingredients together, I was a little careless with the measurements.  We laughed together over how precise the measurements were carried out 60 years ago and how casual we are now.  When the tablespoon or cup wasn't quite full on the first dump, I added a little more just to make sure.  Even though mom was skeptical that the recipe could  turn out like it was supposed to, we moved forward laughing and measuring and stirring. She tasted the first square of cake with broiled icing and she said, "I remember, now. This was a good recipe."  We basked in the joy of recreating a heritage recipe of more than 80 years. We smiled that perhaps Ruth might have been watching us and laughing too.

                                   
I loved the cake, the laughter, the setting up of the photo, but most of all, I love that my mom believes in me.  She believed I could help her take the picture and upload it.  She believed that I could figure out how to set the timer on the fancy camera.  She even believed that somehow the recipe would turn out OK.  There is something wonderful  knowing someone believes in you.  In my mom's eyes, I can do anything. Her belief in me is one of the most empowering elements in my life. 

Everyone needs someone to believe in them. We all need statements of encouragement, someone to say:

• I knew you could do it!
• I believe in you!
• You are amazing!

On a recent hike to Timpanogas Peak, at a weary moment, I asked my son for a pep talk. He said, "You can do this mom, You've got this."  And so I did.  All 14 miles round trip and 4580 feet up and back.

And so I want to say to my children and any and all who have even a moment of doubt on a difficult day, maybe for many, many days, "I believe in you! You can do this!  You've got this!"  Whatever fears and challenges are holding you back, won't amount to two hoots compared to what you have within you, for you and supporting you. And if we can't hear the voices of faith around us, we can know, of a surety, that God believes in us. "You will make it!"