Above all, maintain a constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins.—1 Peter 4:8 (NRSV)

As grown kids, we used to tease Mom about some of the things she told us when we were growing up, maxims she issued with great authority, like “It’s a good thing none of you are too good-looking because that way you develop your personality.” For years, that one echoed in my head until I was maybe fifty and looked at a picture of us. What was Mom talking about? We were good-looking kids.

Ever since Mom died—swiftly at age ninety-three—I find myself thinking of her not only with love but also with deep admiration. Has that ever happened to you? That as you reconsider the life of a parent, you rediscover them. I think of how Mom delighted in us, listening intently to all our stories, posting a picture we made on a refrigerator door, saving our essays in files. Of course, she lost her temper at times, but then it was all over and done. One thing I never doubted is that we were loved. It never would have crossed our minds.

Mom wasn’t especially vocal about her faith. She taught Sunday school, she served on church boards, and she had this very book of daily devotionals by her bedside (I didn’t check to see if any pages were marked, but she would comment at times about something I wrote or somebody else wrote). The way she mirrored God’s love, which clearly she felt, was by passing it on. Loving unconditionally. God willing, I have done as much with my kids and my wife.

“Thanks, Mom,” I’ll say to her memory, over and over again. “I’m still developing my personality, with you as my model.”