Songs My Mother Taught Me: A Place for Every “Thing”

“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace.” - 1 Corinthians 14:33

Now that I’m a mother-in-law, I really appreciate how gracious Cam’s mom was with me. I’m sure I wasn’t exactly who she’d imagined for her Cam.  Our relationship looked a little like this:

Mom Hicks: “Nancy, you’re one of the most impractical people I know.”

Me: “I know!” (With laughs)

And we learned from each other. Here’s an oldie but goodie that comes to mind:

“A place for everything and everything in its place.”  

Carole Hicks lived this out her whole life. Even when I walked through her home the day after she died, every one of her buttoned-down shirts was perfectly ironed and with uniform hangers, lined neatly across her closet.  

I opened the drawer by her landline phone. Neat as a pin. Address book. Notepad. Pen. She went to the hospital unexpectedly. No time to get things in order. Things were just always well placed. 

A couple of years before she died, we were on the phone one day and she warmly said, “Nancy, you really are a Mary and I am a Martha. It’s just so clear and I really do appreciate our differences.” We didn’t always feel that way, but we grew to appreciate each other.

Today, you can say what Mom taught me about “a place for everything and everything in its place” has in fact taken deep root in me. Not the part about my home being in order (though that did help). And it’s partly me, but kicked up again by the son who she groomed and trained (Cam’s sock and underwear drawers are way neater than mine). 

But I’ve integrated her principle on a whole other level, too. Her words ring true to me in the CALLING God has over my life for every person I serve:  

There’s a place for every person. And we all must take our place. 

Thanks, Mom Hicks, you orderly, practical, beautiful woman.

I’m real because God is so real. 

~ Nancy

CALLING 

Where does God want some order in your life? Who can help you with that? If you are orderly, make sure you don’t let “things” being in their place, trump you and the people you love being in their God-ordained places.