I realized that (however unlikely) it is possible that the subject of that post may read about the project and miss the full-impact of it being a surprise. So I’ll just wait until after the day mentioned (don’t you love how vague I am?) to de-privatize it.
Curious yet?
Anyway, I’m still open to input if you saw the questions. Mainly:
- Is there a good way to avoid talking about myself (or keep from looking self-absorbed if I must)?
- Can you think of a good way to organize the speech?
That is, I’m inclined to tell it like a story or a blog-post, with one idea leading into the next. But I’m wondering if, since it is a stand-up presentation (5-minute speech) I need to follow a more conventional tell-em,tell-em, told-em format with discrete points.
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And how do you like the new signature? It was a freebie from here, (HT Happy Home).
Hi! This is an interesting conundrum that you’ve got here. Might I suggest talking about the lessons that she taught, but not necessarily pointing out how well you learned them? My mom has taught me a lot of things, some of which I’ve learned and some of which I haven’t yet.
Also, what is your concept of a successful mother? What are her traits that make her an admireable woman, that in turn make her a successful mother?
What is your church’s goal in doing this? Is it to teach others what a good mother is, or is it to honor the mothers in the audience?
Oh dear, am I giving you a headache yet?
(And I love the new signature)
Or you could leave all specific mothers behind and talk about how Christ gives us the perfect example to follow and how that applies to motherhood.
I’m not sure I’m being very helpful.
I think you need to decide what your purpose is and then pick the format that best gets across what you are trying to say.
You are fabulous!
Thanks Dedee ;)
I finally called the pastor and asked what his goal was: whether this was a very specific honor-my-mom moment or whether it was supposed to be generally applicable.
This is even a question b/c I (believe I) have a very unique relationship with my mother, and so what is the most significant to me (mainly words, specific phrases and her modeling of significant conversation in the midst of every-day interactions) would not “help” most young moms in their mothering.
It’s a different stage or personality interaction than I imagine most mother/daughters to have. (I am thinking specifically of my middle daughter and how I have to *fight* being annoyed at her emotionally-extreme nature– so different from my own).
The pastor said, “First, just honor her. Then if the young moms get just one tidbit out of the whole thing, that’s okay.”
So that’s really opened the door for me to basically do what I want to do.