Voices

 "Mama!" I heard as I finished putting dishes into the dishwasher at my daughter's house in Georgia on a recent visit. She had just left on an errand, so I responded, "Your mother has already gone!" Again I heard over the noise of the dishwasher, "Mama!"

"She's already gone to town!" I repeated. Then came the words, "Mama, it's me! I want to talk to you!" Oh! It was my daughter. I had thought it was one of the grandchildren. She was calling up from the garage to tell me she was taking the kids with her. With several family members around sounding so similar, it's no wonder I was confused.

I have learned not to answer every "Mama" I hear when I'm around my grown children. Once at Jamie's, our son who lives in Texas, he called, "Mama," and when I answered he said, "Not you, Tammy." They have small children and usually refer to each other as Mama or Daddy for their benefit.

I was "Mama" to all our children when they were young, but that became "Mom" from most of them as they grew up. However, Greg, our second-oldest son, has gotten into the habit of calling me "Mother". Perhaps to distinguish me from his wife.  Only one, Trevor, still calls me "Mama," and apparently, Amy.

Few of us ever forget our mother's voice. It always remains in our head with the memory of her calling our name from as far back as we can remember. My husband, Howard's, mother, always called him "Howardie," her pet name for him. We had lived away for nearly 40 years from the area where we grew up until a few years ago. One day we were in a place of business and fell into a conversation with a man whom my husband soon recognized as someone he used to know. When they realized who each other was, the man said, "I still remember your mother calling, "Howardie, it's time to come in," when we were playing."

The Bible says in John 10 that Jesus (the Shepherd of the sheep) knows the sheep and calls them by name, and that the sheep know His voice and follow him. Sometimes (not often, but it has happened) when I hear the phone ring I can't immediately distinguish which one of my son's is calling me. Though they sound different, there is enough similarity in their voices that sometimes they sound alike.

Mothers are not perfect. The Bible says in Isaiah 49:15-16 that even though a mother might forget her nursing child, that He will not forget Zion. He has them inscribed in the palms of His hands. He is speaking to Israel, but also to us. The nail scars prove it.