DJ’s Life Lessons from Mom – Hold On!

DJ the Football Mom — By Mia Jackson on September 11, 2012 at 9:33 PM

A New Day is Dawning

Today I was talking with a friend and she said “I cannot believe so many challenging things are happening at once. I don’t think it can get any worse!” That seems to be the sentiment of so many people I have talked with lately. We just dealt with another hurricane, too many close friends have lost a parent this year or are dealing with the reality of caring for a sick parent; relationships are fragile; and financial woes seems to be rampant. I can hear my mom saying, “Hold on! It is always darkest before dawn.”

It’s strange how things seem harder to deal with at night. As a child I was afraid of the dark and everything just looked scary. I would turn the light on and would try to go to sleep before my mom would tell me to turn the light out. As I got older and encountered life’s issues and situations, it was amazing to me that what seemed so hopeless one night could all be changed for the better the next day.

Over the weekend we made the 11-hour trip to Kansas for our middle son’s season opener. I like to drive at night to avoid the rush hour traffic. We travel all the way on Interstate 70 and there are long lonely stretches in the road where there are farms on each side of the road. In some places it is so dark that you can only see what is in your headlight beam. Around six o’clock in the morning, the dawn breaks and what was pitch black starts to take shape and before you know it, houses appear and you can see the beautiful landscape. It is a beautiful sight.

My mom raised 6 children while working full-time most of that time. She cared for her mom who succumbed to cancer when I was in the sixth grade. Mom would work a full day and then come home and attend to our needs and made sure my grandmother had what she needed. She didn’t complain and found reasons to laugh even in the midst of it all. When life is wearing me down and things don’t seem to be getting better, I remember what mom told me and start looking for daybreak. No matter how long the night seems, HOLD ON! It is always darkest before dawn. Don’t give up! Daybreak is coming!