Mama’s Kisses

My parents departed for heaven a couple of decades ago.  There are times I really miss my Dad.  Those times usually revolve around sporting events or ministry situations. But when I miss my Mom, it’s different. She was a Registered Nurse, and while she didn’t learn this in Nursing School, she did understand the value of a kiss.  At least until I was married and away from her home, every time I complained of some ailment, her reply was, “Come here and let me kiss it and make it well.”  Somehow, some miraculous way, her kisses always made it well. Week before last I took a nasty fall.  I won’t bore you with all the details since they have been well documented, but let’s just say I had a number of places on my body needing a motherly kiss.  As  I got up off the asphalt parking lot, I had several needs.  I needed a handkerchief to wipe the blood on my face.  I needed somehow to  get back to my hotel room in the midst of my dizziness.  I needed to get in touch with my Dr.  I needed an ice pack for my swollen knee. I needed pain medicine. But more than any of these needs, I needed my mother’s kisses.  So,  a word to the mothers and grandmothers, kiss your kids often.  Let them store up a supply so when you are gone, they will remember.  And if your mother is still alive,  don’t shy away from her kisses.  Even if you think you no longer need them, there will come a day when you do, and the only ones you have are in your memory. It is an anonymous quote, but a good one: “The best medicine in the world is a mother’s kiss.”  The Bible speaks often of a “holy kiss” (Romans 16:16; 1 Corinthians 16:20; 2 Corinthians 16:12; 1 Thessalonians 5:16).  Surely, there is no kiss more holy, than that of a mother to her hurting child.