In 1962 a group called, “The Limeliters,” released a new song on their album. A few months later,” Pete Seeger the writer of the song, put it on his album as well. It was not until 1965 that a folk-rock band named The Byrds made the song famous. The song was entitled “Turn! Turn! Turn!” It is said to have rocketed to the top on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and gained worldwide popularity. The listeners seemed to enjoy the lyrics. The lyrics go something like this, “To everything, turn, turn, turn, there is a season, turn, turn, turn, and a time to every purpose under heaven. A time to be born, a time to die, a time to plant, a time to reap, a time to kill, a time to heal, a time to laugh, a time to weep to everything turn, turn, turn. A time to build up, a time to break down, a time to dance, a time to mourn a time to cast away stones a time to gather stones together. A time to love, a time to hate a time of war a time of peace a time you may embrace a time to refrain from embracing. A time to gain, a time to lose, a time to rend, a time to sow a time for love, a time for hate a time for peace I swear it’s not too late.”

Interesting though, except for the last line, those lyrics are from the Old Testament book of Ecclesiastes 3:1-13. I wonder if the people who were singing along knew they were singing scriptures.

In some ways motherhood is just like that. “To everything there is a season,” that’s what the writer said, “A time for every purpose under heaven.” He then lists some of the seasons in the human experience and mother’s experience: birth and death, gain and loss, tears and laughter, mourning and dancing. Just as the seasons in nature change so do the seasons in a mother’s life.

Her circumstances never stay the same for long.

Sometimes we welcome change in our lives. But most times it is difficult, especially when it involves sorrow and loss.

Yet, even then we can be grateful that God does not change.

Sadly, I have attended several funerals in the last few weeks. My heart is still full from attending the funeral of a faithful woman. Her life may not have been spectacular by some standards. She wasn’t known widely outside of her church, neighbors, friends, and family, but she loved her children and her grandchildren. She laughed easily, served generously, and I am told could hit a softball a long way.

That same book of Ecclesiastes says it is better to go to a house of mourning then to a house of feasting. It suggests that “The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.” Because there we learn what matters most.

The New York Times columnist, David Brooks, who recently retired from the paper in February 2026, once said there are two kinds of virtues: those that look good on a resume and those you want said at your funeral. Sometimes they overlap, though often they seem to compete. When in doubt always choose the eulogy virtues.

The woman in the casket didn’t have a resume, but her children testified that “She loved being a mother” from beginning to the end. She inspired and encouraged them to love each other, love others, and love themselves. They felt challenged to imitate her life as an example of love.

Shirley Caesar sings a song that talks about her sister’s little boy, who came in the kitchen one evening while she was fixing supper. He handed her a piece paper he had been writing on. After wiping her hands on an apron she took it in her hands and read it. This is what it said: For mowing the yard $5, for making up my own bed this week $1, for going to the store 50 cents, playing with little brother while you went shopping 25 cents, taking out the trash $1, for getting a good report card $5, for raking the yard $2

Total owed $14.75.

Well, she looked at him standing there and expecting, and a thousand memories flashed through her mind. So, she picked up a pen and turned the paper over and this is what she wrote: “For the nine months I carried you, holding you inside me, no charge, for the nights I sat up and doctored you, prayed for you, no charge, the time and tears, the costs through the years, there is no charge. When you add it all up, the full cost of my love is no charge. For the nights filled with gray, and the worries ahead, no charge. For the advice and the knowledge, and the costs of your college, no charge. For the toys, school, and clothes, and for wiping your nose. There’s no charge son. When you add it all up the real cost of my love is no charge.”

After that mom finished talking to her little boy, he looked up at her with a great big tear in his eyes and he said, “Mama, I sure do love you,” then he reached out he got the letter and turned it over and he wrote in great big words, “paid in full.” When you add it all up, the real cost of my love is no charge.

In closing, while he was not a mother, he looked over the state of West Virginia like a parent. Farewell to a great leader, the late U.S. Rep. David B. McKinley. It was an honor to know you.

Wishing all mothers and women a Happy Mother’s Day. The cost of being a mother is so high, it is amazing that anyone would do it.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Bishop Darrell Cummings is pastor of Bethlehem Apostolic Temple in Wheeling and Shiloh Apostolic Faith Assembly in Weirton.