Pentecost Sermon Kit

Sermon Illustrations

As I looked through the old photo album,

One picture my eyes fixed upon

Was of Mom in her blue Sunday dress

And her soiled, yellow apron.

I smiled as in my mind I returned,

It seemed just like it was yesterday;

For I had left my small handprints on it

From playing in the Carolina red clay.

Mom had called us into dinner;

I could smell Sunday chicken fried.

I ran in and threw my arms 'round her,

As my clay-red hands she spied.

She pinched my cheeks and chuckled,

Sent me in to wash up and sit down.

When sister Mary Ruth snapped Mom’s picture,

We snickered; Dad just made a frown.

Mom always wore an apron;

Yellow was her favorite color.

I'd sneak up and quickly untie it;

Hear her shout, “Scat, you little stinker!”

Her apron was Mom’s very favorite

Of all the things that she wore:

Like a mother's badge of honor,

Displayed as some fancy decor.

She'd wear it to the hen house,

Shape it into a round bowl to hold

Fresh eggs that she had gathered,

Or to shield baby chicks from the cold.

She would use it like a basket

For tomatoes, or even fresh corn.

I recall the day that it cradled

Twelve kittens, newly born.

She’d pull it up from the bottom,

Her dishpan hands to dry;

To fan herself in hot weather;

Or to wave it in saying goodbye.

Mom’s apron could hide a shy child

Or wipe dirt from a little boy’s ear;

And the hankie she kept in its pocket?

One memory I still hold dear.

Her sweaty brow would get patted

As she cooked over our old wood stove;

And it served as potholder for cornbread

From the oven she would remove.

She’d use it to carry ripe apples

That had fallen to the ground;

Sometimes collect crumbs from the table

And toss them to birds hanging ’round.

Mom’s apron had multiple uses,

From a tote bag to shooing flies;

But she also used it tenderly,

To wipe many teary eyes.

The apron was surely invented

To protect a mom’s pretty clothes,

And especially with my mom in mind:

How she loved it . . . heaven knows.

I reckon not too many ladies

Would care a whit for it these days,

But Mom proved its limitless value

As she used it in so many ways.

When I look through my family photos,

There’s one I still gaze upon:

It’s of Mom in her blue Sunday dress,

And wearing a soiled yellow apron.

©Loyd C Taylor, February 2008

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