As I went to my drawer filled with all types of greeting, get well, and sympathy cards, I ran across this one. Cards are more important to some people than others. My mother in law took great pains to pick out just the right card for each person on most every occasion. My mother loved receiving cards, particularly when personalized, loving sentiments were included. As I looked at and opened this card, it stood blank. I bought it, but never got around to writing a message in it that would have been so appreciated. Busy with family and work, I never even signed and sent it. Though we could not be with my mother for the holiday, I called her. Yet our phone calls tended to be more friendly and chatty about events going on with the children and life than the appreciative words I might have written in the card.

It has now been eleven years since I bought this card, yet I can’t seem to throw it away. This would have been the last Mother’s Day card I ever sent. My mother died unexpectedly nine months later.

This card reminds me of:

• Lost time. I had no idea that this would be the last Mother’s Day with my mom. Time passes quickly and we don’t know how much time we still have (Colossians 4:5, Psalm 90:12, Ephesians 5:16).
• Lost opportunities. I made the effort to go to a store and buy the card, yet didn’t send it. By the time I thought of it, the holiday had passed and it didn’t seem worth sending. I’d missed my opportunity. How many times have opportunities been presented to me and I let them slip away (James 4:17)?
• Lost joy. Mom would have loved to receive a card with heart felt words of appreciation for all her years of sacrifice and love given to me. Yet not sending it, deprived her of that and deprived me of giving her that joy (Acts 20:35).
• Lost focus. My focus on Mother’s Day should have been on my Mother and celebrating her, but I was preoccupied with myself. Having an inward focus, rather than an upward and outward one, blinds me to loving, serving, and reaching out to others (Philippians 2:4).

I plan to keep this blank card as a reminder that while I missed my opportunity on Mother’s Days eleven years ago, I don’t plan to miss my opportunity to attend a wonderful family reunion in the not too distant future.