A guy like me who writes so much tends to lose track of what all I’ve penned over the years. Maybe in the case of some of it, that’s been a good thing. Some fellow Cornerstone staffers recently went digging through a folder of my old stuff, and pulled out something I’d long forgotten. They insisted I use it here, a letter to my Mother that likely echoes thoughts others have had regarding theirs.
In 1992, just after Thanksgiving Day, I wrote this letter to my Mother. I grew up in a broken home. My older brother and sister, in their turns, passed through failed marriages and had kids that didn’t see great stability. But at least I had both parents; I lived with my Mom and she loved me as best she knew how. She watched me struggle, find Jesus, and slowly mature into a solid if fallible Christian man, husband, father, and minister.
Thank God, on different occasions well after I wrote this letter, both my Mom and Dad prayed to receive Jesus. Mom and Dad are gone now, but not forgotten. I praise God for the life everlasting He gives through Jesus Christ!

November 25, 1992
Dear Mom,

Hello from Chicago! By now you will have received our Thanksgiving phone call, but I wanted to write you and just tell you hello, and again remind you that we all love you very much.
One of the things I see almost daily here is kids with no parents. I am thankful that you were there for me. I could have had no one all those years. I realize you weren’t (aren’t) the perfect parent, and also that there are no such parents on this earth. It’s amazing how being a parent has taught me how flawed I am! But I am also very thankful that you loved me and tried to steer me into sanity in a world that is clearly crazy a great part of the time.
I’m sure that we all wish at times that we could go back into the past and undo or redo what we did here or there. Of course there is no going back. I regret that I didn’t show you more compassion and respect. You shared a great deal of wisdom and understanding about life with me in the time we had together as I was growing up.
I believe I remember saying I’m sorry for a lot of things to you soon after I joined the ministry in ’71. But I just want you to know in any moments I can’t be there with you, or when you feel lonely, my love and respect for you has only grown as I’ve grown older. You probably remember telling me to “Think!” many times. You also said that one day I would quote you to my own children, repeating certain things you tried to teach me from your vantage point. Of course, you were so right!
So if you ever wonder, just a little bit, about whether or not I learned anything from those conversations over the years, here is my written response: Thank you!
I have told both you and Dad that as I surrendered my life to Jesus and began to see absolute truth in His Word, it became clearer and clearer to me that some things aren’t within a parent’s power to give to their kids. An understanding of God’s love—so very different from the finest love a human being can offer—was something I had to discover on my own. I also realized that autumn—and I recall telling you so—that neither you nor Dad could share with me that particular relationship with God that neither of you had at the time. I understood that, and so it was very clear to me that besides the specific reasons for your own hurts, separation, etc., you didn’t have a personal relationship to Him from which to sustain you through those problems. I will say it again: if not for God making Himself so real to me, I would have never married, stayed married if I had said the vows in the first place, and certainly would have not lived past thirty from all the involvement with drugs in my life.
The point is that I was desperate, and though many have followed Jesus who honestly weren’t desperate, I was. And like many who were (are) also at the end of their rope, I needed desperate—but true—solutions to my personal needs. I found—and have for the past twenty-one years continued to find in Jesus Christ and God’s Word, the Bible—a relationship that has never failed, soured, or had to be compromised because it couldn’t stand up to the pain and struggle of living in this selfish and sick world. I have done my best (and failed countless times) to live what I have said I believed. I cannot deny the reality of God’s obvious mercy in my life. I pray, and will continue to pray, that He will make His presence known to you to the same strong degree that He has revealed Himself to me.
Just to be very clear: I’m not asking you do anything, nor expecting anything from you. You have given me more than you’ll ever know. Please forgive your “preacher” son for sermonizing you here—if I am doing so! I have simply found no greater love in all my experience, and I know He loves you just as much as He loves me! May you be certain of it. May you respond to Him however He leads you to.
And may you always know how thankful I am that you, and not someone else, are my Mother.
With deepest love and thanks,
Glenn
PS: I have sent a very similar letter to Dad. In the event you hear of it, please know that I have written what I have written specifically to you. If you alone were my only parent, I could not mean it more.

First published in Cornerstone (ISSN 0275-2743), Vol. 30, Issue 121 (2001), pg. 15.
© 2001 Cornerstone Communications, Inc.
Electronic version may contain minor changes and corrections from printed version.