A Mother's Day poem

I was listening to a minister preaching about God's design for Christian mothers yesterday, and I found a poem he had quoted by John Stiles. Though the poem is obviously written by a man, I embraced it as a tribute by a child to a loving mother. I would like to share it here, in memory and appreciation for the life and sacrificial love of Gram, the mother of my heart.

I have worshiped in churches and chapels. I have prayed in the busy street.
I have sought my God and have found Him where the waves of His ocean beat.
I have knealt in the silent forest in the shade of some ancient tree,
But the dearest of all my altars was at my mother's knee.

I have listened to God in His temple. I have caught His voice in the crowd.
I have heard Him speak where the breakers were booming long and loud,
Where the winds play soft in the tree tops, my God has talked to me,
But I have never heard Him clearer than I did at my mother's knee.

The things in my life that are worthy were born in my mother's breast,
And breathed into mine by the wonder of the love her life expressed,
The years that have brought me to manhood have taken her far from me,
But memory keeps me from straying too far from my mother's knee.

God, make me the man of her vision and purge me of selfishness.
God, keep me true to her standards and help me to live to bless.
God, hallow the holy impress of the days that used to be,
And keep me a pilgrim forever to the shrine at my mother's knee.

Gram's prayers often included the request, "Bless us and make us a blessing". This Mother's Day, I pray that I will never forget the blessings I received by Gram's life and that I will, by the grace of God, go on to be a blessing to future generations.