A Tribute To My Beloved Mother (Grace Watiri Kamure)

Today, I stand before you, not to mourn the promotion of my beloved mother to glory, but to celebrate a life well lived. My mother was a great woman, a pillar of strength, a fortitude, the glue that bond our family together. She always directed us towards the right path and was steadfast in providing us with sound advice on how we could face the challenges of life. Her belief in strong family values and unrelenting faith in God epitomized her very existence.

Early in life, she inculcated in us the values of hard work, respect, deep sense of gratitude as well as how to harmoniously coexist with others. She strongly believed that in order to succeed, hard work was a quintessential element. It is through this belief and philosophy that she consistently worked hard to put food on the table and see us through school. Indeed, her sacrifice eventually paid dividends albeit too late. As a single mother, I must admit, this was no mean feat. This is what makes me stand here today with a deep sense of gratitude, grateful in every way for the sacrifices she made for us and for the people we have turned out to be.

Even though my mother was not as adequately educated as some of us are, she valued the ideals of education. As a single mother, she did everything within her powers to see us through school. When the going got tough and there was no school fees, she did not hesitate for a moment to sell one of his livestock’s to facilitate our school fees. This to me epitomized the ultimate sacrifice, the desire to see her children get the best of everything with limited resources. It is something that I do not take for granted and which I uphold with respect and gratitude.

She always reminded us that education is the best inheritance she could bequeath us. Many are the times we deviated from her teachings, our youthful optimism and ignorance taking the better of us. We thought, wrongly so, that we were wiser and surreptitiously discarded the wisdom she imparted in us. We at times felt as if she was punishing us, that she was too hard on us. But now, when I look back, I can tell with finality that she meant the best for us. Along the way, we were not the best of children, we at times swam in the eddies of youthful optimism and sought to identify ourselves with those of our generation.

However, this does not mean that we did not appreciate the role that our beloved mother played. Deep down, we knew she was right, that she meant the best for us, that what she was doing was to mould us into upright and respectable people in the society. I for instance deviated from her teachings more than once; I was like an errand child, I took pleasure in being a master of my own ignorance, always clashing and going against the norm. But when I asked for forgiveness from my mother during her last stages of life, she forgave me wholeheartedly. Like a prodigal son, she welcomed me back into the fold. The smile and sigh of relief on her face showed it all. I could see she was happy not only for me seeing the light but for being sorry enough to ask for forgiveness.

My mother’s lifelong desire was to see us working together as a unit, always looking out for each other, walking through the walk of life united and in the ideals and principles that are espoused in the Holy Scriptures. Today, we are gathered here to celebrate the life of a great woman, a mother, a grandmother, an aunt, a sister, a mentor, a pillar of strength. God in His infinite wisdom has seen it proper that she should take a rest. Ours is simply to embrace the ideals she inculcated in us and keep her memory in our hearts and souls alive.

Isn’t it amazing when we say, am tired, He says I will give you rest (matt 11:28-30) we say: it’s impossible. He says: all things are possible (Luke 18:27) we say: I can’t go on, He says: my grace is sufficient (2 COR 12:9). In that wavelength, we wholly accept the will of God. We wholeheartedly thank god for the time He allowed us to spend time with our beloved mother; we offer thanksgiving for the strength He gave her to see us through childhood, for the many wise teachings and above all for the little joys of life.

At difficult and trying times like this, confusion tends to set in. Most of the time, we tend to ask ourselves why and questioning the will of God. What we seldom realize or fathom is that Gods time is the best. When we feel lost in the wilderness, when our strength and courage fails us, we should always keep in mind that God will always direct us towards the correct path. I would have loved to see my mother see me turning into the man she would have wanted me to. I would have loved for one day to take my mother to visits to a place of her choice……I wish for many things now that you’ve left dear mother.

I promise to abide by your teachings, to live up to the promises I made to you when you were alive. You always taught us towards the right path. Never at one time did you allow us to veer from the correct path. On reflection, everything you told me has come to pass. I am now wiser and more than ready to go through the turbulent waters of life knowing that am keeping your memory alive. You constantly reminded me that we perish because we lack knowledge, we have eyes but we can’t see, have ears but seldom listen. I promise to lead by example dear mother.

As we inter the remains of my mother to its final resting place, I beseech my brothers and sisters to be strong willed, to rejoice in the fact that GOD blessed us with such a great mother. The best thing we can do in her memory is to follow her teachings, to lead our lives as she would have wanted and above all to keep her memory in everything that we do. We have to soldier on, we have to remain united and above all, we must uphold the principles she inculcated in us throughout the walk of life.

Rest in peace dear mother (on behalf of our friends, brothers, sisters 1saac kamure, Grace Kamure, Margaret Kamure, Joseph Kamau and the entire family-take heart)