Momisms
The last two weeks I have asked readers of this column to share their favorite "Momisms," particular words and phrases of advice and life guidance that they remember hearing from their mothers, grandmothers, aunts, and other women. I have been moved by both the volume and the meaningfulness of what many of you have shared.
Several of you said that you didn't have a particular Momism to share, but wrote about how your mother or grandmother dealt with challenges in their lives. You explained how the way they lived taught you so much about what matters most in life, and how they taught these lessons through their actions, as much as through their words. Your stories truly moved me.
Some of you wrote about your grief as you miss your mothers, or because your mothers died before you really had a chance to know them. Others spoke of their grieving for a relationship they wished for but never had. Mother's Day can be a hard day for people, for many different reasons, and so my heart goes out to any of you who are grieving this Mother's Day.
As we stop to reflect on these Momisms, it is also an opportunity for all of us to pause and remember just how much power there is in the words we speak to one another. Our words have the ability to bless and inspire, not only in the moment but as I heard from many of you, for years, and sometimes decades, after the words have been spoken.
As we give thanks this weekend for mothers, and all the other wise women we are blessed to have known, may we also reflect on the words we speak to one another, remembering that their effect continues to ripple outward long after they have been uttered.
Here, without editing, is the list of Momisms that you shared.
It's later than you think.
You don't have to like the cards you are dealt, but you do have to play them.
Spend a little, save a little.
Don't make me come up there!
If everyone else jumped off a cliff, would you follow?
Let go and let God.
Work like it all depends on you, and pray like it all depends on God.
It may not be ok, but it will all work out.
Try to understand who they are, and you might better understand why they do what they do and say what they say.
Why dahlin', I get my best exercise jumpin' to conclusions! (said in her beautiful southern drawl)
To thine own self be true.
Neither a lender nor a borrower be.
Handsome is as handsome does or pretty is as pretty does.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child…
Rise above it.
It's what you do when you don't have to, that makes you what you are when you can't help yourself.
It's better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it.
Waste not, want not.
Because I said so.
What if your face froze like that?"
Think about all the children starving around the world.
If you lie, people won't believe you when you're telling the truth.
To have a friend, be a friend.
Don't lower yourself. Rise above - and in the end, you will be defined by those actions.
Every time you point your finger, look at the three still pointed at you.
You will always have some dirt in your house, but you will not always have kids in the house.
Let your conscience be your guide.
Don't rush the brush and spill the paint!
If you can't say something, nice don't say anything at all.
It only bugs you once if you fix it.
I have eyes in the back of my head.
Common sense is not common.
What other people think of you is none of your business.
We have time for what we want to have time for.
Don't put off until tomorrow what you can do today because you never know what will come up tomorrow.
Make a plan, then be willing to 'work' your plan.
Kill them with kindness.
You make a better door than a window.
Don't look too far down the road. Be where you are.
People are important, not things.
Always remember to take your vitamins!
I don't know. I'm just telling you.
I don't care what everyone is doing, I care what you are doing.
If you sleep under a fan, it will give you a cold.
Take care of a goldfish, and then you can get a dog.
If you choose an action, you choose the reaction also; choose carefully!
Ten years from now it won't make a bit of difference.
There is always room for dessert; it will fill in all the cracks in our bellies!
If you kids are going to fight, take it outside.
Don't worry about it; it will all come out in the wash.
I am sure you will do well, but no matter what happens I still love you and am proud of you.
Come here...I just wanted to say, "I love you."
As mom was dying, "I said, I am going to miss you so much." She responded. "I love you so much. But I no longer belong to this time - I now belong to eternity."
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