Be Sure To Write It Down

At a men’s rally, the speaker told of a poster his daughter made for her college dorm room.  Her favorite posters are those with Tim Tebow on them.  I would say of all the posters that college girls could have a Tim Tebow poster is pretty good choice.

To the dad’s surprise, the poster was not of Tim Tebow.  Instead, the poster was a list of the things that the dad had told is daughter as she was growing up.  He said it made him think, what I have told her and what he should have told her.

At the 100^th Anniversary of Dixon’s Mills Baptist, a representative from the Alabama Baptist Historical Society said people should write down the words of church members because so much is lost after a long period of time if it is not recorded.  With a hundred years behind, there had to be many tremendous events of Dixon’s Mills Baptist Church that future members need to know.

Very few people spoke at 100th Celebration.  I think it was the magnitude of the moment and trying to remember what had been said and what had been done.  Pastor Richard Martindale’s granddaughter took notes where at future celebrations there would have a recorded history of words from those who did speak.

I remember one of my history professors at the University of Montevallo saying, “If you do not write down an event, it never happened.”  Word of mouth will turn to hearsay, tale, fable, or legend if events are not documented.  There have been events in our lifetime that proved to be false when people discovered documented evident to the contrary of hearsay

As I reflected on Mother’s Day, I thought of a list of things that my momma told me and decided to write them down.  As I reflect, some are humorous, some are profound, and some prophetic. Here it goes a few:

            You reap what you sow.

            You cannot go swimming until you learn how to swim.

            You can do anything you put your head to do.

            You need to pray that God leads you to girl to be your wife.

            Be sure to wear clean underwear in case you are in an accident.

            If you fall out of that tree and break your neck, I am going to whup you.

            If we were picking our nose she would ask if we were cleaning out the dance hall.

            If you get hurt, don’t come crying to me.

            If someone else can do that, you can do it.

            If you runaway from home, I will beat you to death.

            If you run while I am trying to whup you, I beat you when I catch you.

            If you don’t do it right the first time, you will have to lick that calf again.

            Never kiss a girl unless you are serious about her.

            Good girls don’t call here and ask for you.

            I may not can see you, but God does.

            I got little eyes everywhere so that I can see you.

            I am going to beat you till you cry.

            I hate the name Roe. (Roe was her first name.)

            I been so mean the grass will not grow on my grave when I die. (It does not by the way.)

            What is said in this house stays in this house.

            What ever you do, do your best.

            What you’re doing will come home to you one day.

            What is good for the goose is good for the gander.

            Payday comes one day.

            Don’t let the sun go down being mad at someone

            You may never get a chance to say you’re sorry.

            Use good words, they taste better when you have the eat them.

            Don’t let nobody tell you that you are not good enough.

            Mama told my sister not to wear a dress to the garden because the potatoes had eyes

            “Say Calf Rope” (When she was wrestling us and holding until we said, “Calf Rope.”

            Go cut me a switch!

            Just wait to your daddy gets home.

            When you have kids, you will pay for your raising.

            Ya’ll will probably have to hire people to come to my funeral.

            Nobody may love us, but we love one each other.

            Read your Bible and pray.

            One day I gonna be gone and you will be sorry you said that to me.

            Stick you nose in that corner and stand on your tiptoes until I tell you to stop.

            God will take care of us.

These are only a few that brothers and sister could remember.  There were some others, but I cannot write them in this article.

I remember one Mother’s Day, I preached at Pine Hill and I mentioned Coach “Bear” Bryant’s Bellsouth commercial.  When taping the commercial, he said, “Be sure and call your mom, I wished I could call mine.”  The producers that it was corny, but the more they played it the more genuine it was.

After the service, the sermon and the commercial went viral.  Viral means it was on the internet.  Words I said and words of the late “Bear” Bryant captured for all to read, see, and hear in a matter minutes.  I am glad I took time to write down things momma said.

Proverbs 31:1 sums up the word of a mother pretty good.  The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy that his mother taught him (KJV).