Life

 

Garth Brooks’ Tender Ballad “Mom” is pro-life from beginning to end

By Dave Andrusko

Garth Brooks

Sundays are always hectic for the Andruskos, but especially yesterday. It was my wife’s birthday. We gathered at our oldest daughter’s home–our kids, our daughter-in-law, and our two grandkids—to celebrate Lisa as a wife, mom, grandmother, and mother-in-law.
Fortunately (I think that’s the right word), I had not had time to dial up some texts and emails that had been sent to me talking about this “tear-jerker of a song.” Well…today I had time to listen to Garth Brooks’ new song, titled simply “Mom.”
Oh, my goodness.
By now, I’m guessing that Garth’s tender performance of this song on Good Morning America has been seen by half of North America. He describes it as his second favorite (second only to “The Dance”) and it is easy to see why. Why it’s one of his two favorites and why every female in the GMA audience was weeping. (Confession: like Garth, I choked up as well.)
So what is “Mom” about? Glad you asked. The Don Sampson, Wynn Varble-penned ballad is a conversation between an unborn baby and (I will assume it’s a girl) her Maker. The “little baby”—considering the glory of where she is confesses that maybe it wouldn’t be such a bad idea to stay with God. That earth down there is awfulllly big and she is awfulllly small. Hey, God, you’re not mad at me, are you?
On the contrary, God responds, but there is somebody special who is waiting for you. Since everybody else has copied this stanza, I will, too.

So hush now, baby, don’t you cry
Cause there’s someone down there waiting
Whose only goal in life
is making sure you’re always going to be alright
A loving angel, tender, tough, and strong
It’s almost time to go and meet your mom.

Pass the Kleenex.

The song just grows more and more tender. God reminds the baby to listen closely. Mom is going to teach her the important stuff she needs to know. But good manners and laughing and loving, important as they are, are only minutiae in comparison to her most important task:

And she’ll put you on the path that’ll bring you back to me

You can watch Garth perform the song on GMA on a gazillion different spots. Here’s one.  The audience reaction is almost as remarkable as the song.
Great pro-life ballad from word one to word last.

On second thought, maybe it would have been a blessing to play Garth in honor of Lisa and all the other great moms who have chosen life. Even if (especially if?) we had all bawled like children, these moms deserve this tribute, and much, much more.

Source: NRLC News