Storytime Tapestry Newsletter

The newsletter devoted to spreading love and cultural awareness throughout the world.

Special Treat – Chalene Collins

October 2, 2007

I am happy to introduce another new writer for Storytime Tapestry.  Charlene Collins becomes writer #436 and I am sure you will love her story as much as I do.  Please email her and welcome her to our family.

Letter to Mama

Charlene Collins

Mrs. Josephine Harris lives in a little town just outside of Jefferson, Georgia, called Arcade. From time to time she opens her home to people who otherwise would be homeless. Whomever she takes into her home becomes her children.  I am one of those children. I found myself without a place to live in the spring of 1997. I stayed with friends as long as I could, but that was wearing very thin. My friend that I was staying with called the DFCS to see if there was some place I could go to live. I was taken to the home of the lady I would come to know as Mama Jo Harris, or just plain Mama.

Mama gave me something that nobody else ever has. She gave me genuine love, tempered with a bit of salt. She is in my life, nurturing me and scolding me when I need it. I was so blessed to be taken in that day, to have a home and to have a mama again. My mother passed away in 1991, and I was lost without her. Mama Jo didn’t replace my mother; she is totally separate from my mother. She is my mommy. I would like to think that my mother would be happy to know that I had an adopted mother to help lead me and guide me.

Before coming to know Mama Jo, I did not have a relationship with the Lord. My life didn’t start to change for the better until my mama came into my life. She was the first person that showed me God’s love for me. She showed me love when she opened her home to me, a total stranger to her. Yet, she knew it was safe for me to come to live with her, because I was one of the lost sheep that God sends to her once in a while. She recognized me as someone who had wandered away from the flock and had gotten lost. Mama Jo helped me to find my way back.

She helps to keep me on the straight and narrow path. If I should wander, she gently reins me in with a kind word, or a slight scolding. I know she is right and I want to do better because I know the Lord lives within her and she is doing His work. She made the Love of God near and dear to my heart. Just like I want to walk like God and talk like him, I also want to emulate her. I want to do honor to her because without her I would still be the little lost sheep that wandered from the herd.

I wrote a poem to honor her, and to recognize the sacrifices she has made to make my life and others better. She has given up the privacy of her home to house people in need. I had a room of my own, with a comfortable bed to lie on, and two soft pillows to rest my head. I had wonderful down home cooking…. What a blessing that was. When I think of how it could have been. I could have been on the streets with no place to go.

Mama helped me heal. I was wounded and battered within my heart. She taught me to be thankful for the blessings I have and not to dwell on the things that I don’t have. She taught me to do for others to take my mind off myself. Thank God for Josephine who helped me create a self image. I regained self esteem; something I had not had in a very long time.

For me, Mama Jo Harris is the very image of what God is supposed to be. She taught me to decrease myself as I increased in the image of God in my heart. There is always a song in her lips and a prayer in her heart for all of God’s children, whether they are big or small. I have written a poem to honor her and all mothers who love their children, whether they were born to them or not.

 Letter to Mama                    

Mama dearest let me say

What is on my heart today.

Let my words of love,

Be guided from God above.

Mama you were the one

Who rescued me when no one would,

And stood me up on solid ground.

You taught me how wear God's love

For souls to wrap my arms around.

Mama, God gave your love to me

As a model of how I should be.

My mother died just years before

My heart was broken my soul was torn.

So, when I was lost and lonely,

You were the angel, who took me in.

Mama there is so much

I want to thank you for.

You brought God's love to me,

Which healed my broken soul,

And  that love made me whole.

Mama you taught me

Love is an action,

It is something that you do,

Because the essence of love

Is not a feeling or emotion.

You taught me to stop

Dwelling on me,

And to focus on those in need.

No, I wasn't born to you,

But just the same God gave me you.

I am honored to call you Mom.

Written September 15, 2006

By Charlene Collins

imasweetsallyboo@yahoo.com