Fearlessly Courageous
Desk of Dennis Piller
5 9 2025
Side note:
I’ll be teaching a Discovering Jesus class online starting this Tuesday May 13th, from 7:00–8:30 PM for 5 weeks. If you’re looking to grow your faith or know someone who is, I’d love for you to join us — or invite a friend. Here is the Link: https://meet.google.com/cfm-udos-iks (let me know)
The Lifetime Achievement Oscar Goes To… Our Moms?
What is Mother’s Day without Mom?
I’m not ready
This year will be my first without her. My mom passed away on February 11th. She lived from 1925 to 2025 — a full century of faith, love, and sacrificial living. The older she got, the more I realized how much of herself she poured into me and our family. Now that she’s gone, the grief has settled in like a shadow that sometimes surprises me in quiet moments.
I recently heard someone ask a 92-year-old man the secret to his long life. His answer stunned me: “Honor your father and your mother.” That’s not a line you hear every day, but it hit me deeply. Matthew 19:19 says, “Honor thy father and thy mother: that thy days may be long upon the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.” It reminded me that honor doesn’t end when their lives do.
Since losing my mom, I’ve come to realize how personal grief becomes, when it’s your own. You feel for others when they lose someone, but when it’s you… It’s different. The void is deep. The ache is real.
Scrolling online, I saw post after post: “This is my first one without her.” “It still hurts.” Many shared about sleepless nights, sudden tears, and how clichés like “time heals” or “she’s in a better place” fall short. Some find peace at her grave; others write letters or look at photos through tears. It’s all ebb and flow. There are days I try not to think about her because the missing becomes overwhelming.
But I also know this: she did too much not to be celebrated. Not just on one day, but in the way I live every day. She was there for everything — with lunchbox notes full of wisdom, swift but loving correction, and a kind of knowing that made me feel seen. She didn’t just raise us. She pastored us. She didn’t just pray for us. She prayed over us.
Mom believed that faith wasn’t just for Sunday — it was for everything. She and my dad sacrificed to send us to Catholic school, not because they had extra, but because they knew what mattered most. She ran three businesses with my father and still made every moment with her kids intentional. She knew God was in the details, and so she paid attention to them — spiritually and practically.
She built our family’s foundation with quiet resilience and relentless love.
Mother’s Day can be hard if your mom is gone or if your relationship with her was complicated. But I believe God meets each of us where we are. He provides comfort and grace for those who mourn, and new strength for each new day.
So, this weekend, I’m choosing to honor her.
Not with just tears, but with gratitude. Not just with sorrow, but with celebration. I want to leave an example to my family that her life — and the lives of all our mothers and grandmothers — still matter. Their sacrifices, their words, and their love were not in vain.
Lord, bless our mothers, grandmothers, and those who stepped into that role. May they know deep in their spirits that their work, their care, and their love made a difference. For those who have already joined you, help us remember them well and live out the values they instilled. Where we could have done more… let that realization inspire us to love better and be more present with the ones still here.
This weekend, whether it’s through a prayer, a poem, or a flower she loved — take time to honor her.
After all, if the Oscars can award a Lifetime Achievement Award, surely the extraordinary, everyday resilience of our moms deserves even more. They didn’t win trophies, but they won our hearts—
and that’s eternal.
Side note:
I’ll be teaching a Discovering Jesus class online starting this Tuesday May 13th from 7:00–8:30 PM for 5 weeks. If you’re looking to grow your faith or know someone who is, I’d love for you to join us — or invite a friend. Here is the Link: https://meet.google.com/cfm-udos-iks
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhPnVabErZo
A Mother’s Eyes Reflect the Love of Heaven – The Tabernacle Choir
