If my 103-year-old mom were president, Part 1

In this presidential election year, I sure wish my 103-year-old mother were running for president. Yes, you read that right: She'll be 103 years young this Saturday, May 4! My wife, Gena, and I can hardly believe it as well! I'm convinced that if we listened more to centenarians (age 100-plus years), we'd not only…

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In this presidential election year, I sure wish my 103-year-old mother were running for president.

Yes, you read that right: She'll be 103 years young this Saturday, May 4! My wife, Gena, and I can hardly believe it as well!

I'm convinced that if we listened more to centenarians (age 100-plus years), we'd not only live longer but truly understand the recipe to make America great again. What else would you expect from those who lived through world wars, the Great Depression, and yet lived by the Golden Rule through it all?

Let me share with you a few personal details (and photos) about my mom, and then I'll let her share with you in her own words about what she believes are the essential ingredients for life, liberty and the American way.

My mother, Wilma Norris Knight, was born on May 4, 1921. She is the last survivor of her 11-member biological family. In fact, she's outlived the last member of her family by 25 years!

My mom had a very difficult first half of her life. She was raised in abject poverty in rural Oklahoma. At only 8 years old, she was given away as a ward of the state. She had to be treated for two years for a rare disease, living away from the family in a children's hospital.

When she returned healthy a few years later, she lived through the Great Depression. Her entire family – including the young kids – used to pick cotton in fields just to survive. When done picking one field, they'd often move to another town to pick another field. Life was not easy in the Dust Bowl, especially during the Great Depression.

My mom's family in the cotton fields in Hess, Oklahoma, where they had to move temporarily to find work during the Great Depression (that's my mom second from the right).

Mom married my father at just 16, but was abandoned years later to raise her three boys all alone. I was the eldest and often had to assume the roles of my absent father. We were as poor as church mice, but that's what also prepared me to overcome the obstacles of this life.

Mom has been an example of perseverance and faith her whole life. She's endured the deaths of all her biological family, her two husbands, a stepson, two grandchildren and my brother Wieland in the Vietnam War, on June 3, 1970. She's had cancer repeatedly and gone through roughly 30 different surgeries for a host of issues, and yet she's still here to tell about it.

My mother has prayed for me all my life, through thick and thin. When I was born, I almost died from complications. When nearly losing my soul to Hollywood, and nearly losing my pocketbook as a young man starting my karate studios and traveling around the country to peddle my own movies to theaters, she was back home praying for my success. She even prayed for me to find a woman to change my life, and it worked! I met my true love, Gena, when I was filming "Walker, Texas Ranger."

I was rereading through my mom's life story in her autobiography she wrote at 90, "Acts of Kindness: My Story," and gleaning the wisdom that was so prevalent throughout her whole life.

I thought there is no better time than right now to share her wisdom with you as an encouragement from someone who has actually "been there and done that."

Ready? Watch how you will be encouraged and inspired! (The following words are directly quoted from her book, pages 89-95).

My mom wrote:

How we reawakened the American dream and spirit

In her inspiring book "The Forgotten Man," Amity Shlaes conveys some fascinating stories about what life was like during the Great Depression. In the very heart of that economic crisis was "the forgotten man," a term used for the millions of people who were unemployed.

A popular Depression-era song expresses their pain and struggle:

They used to tell me I was building a dream, with peace and glory ahead.
Why should I be standing in line, just waiting for bread?
Once I built a railroad, I made it run, made it race against time.
Once I built a railroad; now it's done. Brother, can you spare a dime?

As the lyrics remind us, a loss of employment or downturn in one's economic status can change everything. And only those who have truly been there can understand that.

We learned many valuable lessons during those years that served as a basis for the rest of my life. These lessons might also encourage people today suffering through their own economic and employment valleys. I would dare to say that if we lived more by these principles, we would experience far more personal and national recovery and rewards.

Don't be surprised by hardship

I think it's fair to say that most people today expect life to be easy and sprinkled with a few difficult times. But back in the Great Depression era, we all learned in a big way that life is hard and sprinkled with some easier moments.

The Bible encourages a similar point of view: "Don't be surprised by the fiery trial that has come upon you." Even Jesus cautioned us: "See to it that you are not alarmed" when difficult times come. Other translations include, "Keep your head and don't panic" and "See that you are not troubled."

Another thing I've learned over and over: Bad things happen to good people, but good people can survive bad things, especially with God's help.

Fight worry

Though it's an understandable human reaction, worry is the absence of trust in God and will rob us of God's best. Remember what Jesus encouraged: "Consider the birds of the air. They do not work or toil, and yet your Heavenly Father provides for them."

Watching birds is a very real living illustration that can help us overcome anxiety. Elizabeth Cheney wrote a poem in which she explains this lesson through a fictitious conversation between two birds in an orchard:

Said the Robin to the Sparrow,
"I should really like to know
Why these anxious human beings
Rush about and hurry so."
Said the Sparrow to the Robin,
"Friend, I think that it must be
That they have no Heavenly Father
Such as cares for you and me."

Instead of worrying, Jesus said that we are to "Seek first God's Kingdom and all your needs will be met."

This is God's promise in the Bible: "My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches and glory in Christ Jesus." As my pastor has shared, God may not give us all our greeds, but He's promised to provide all our needs.

That is also why Jesus taught us to pray in the Lord's Prayer, "Give us this day our daily bread." If we only prayed and focused upon "daily bread," we'd see many more provision miracles around us.

Get back to the basics

Simplify your life. Live within your means. People must be willing to cut back and be OK with it. We must quit borrowing and cut spending. Be grateful for what you have, especially your health and loved ones. Be content with what you have too, and remember that stuff will never make you happy. Never. You're not going to take any of it with you. Have you ever seen a U-Haul following a hearse?

Back then, we didn't have 1/1000th of what people do today, yet we seemed happier, even during the Great Depression. Practice the principles of contentment. As the Bible says, "With food and shelter, we shall be content."

Being content with what we have reminds me of a farmer who had lived on the same farm all his life. It was a good farm, but with the passing years, the farmer began to tire of it. He longed for a change for something "better." Every day, he found a new reason for criticizing some feature of the old place. Finally, he decided to sell and listed the farm with a real estate agent, who promptly prepared a sales advertisement. As one might expect, it emphasized all the farm's advantages: ideal location, healthy stock, modern equipment, acres of fertile ground, etc. Before placing the ad in the newspaper, the real estate agent called the farmer and read the copy to him for his approval. When he had finished, the farmer cried out, "Hold everything! I've changed my mind. I am not going to sell. I've been looking for a place like that all my life."

Enough said.

(In Part 2 next week, I will give five more insightful points of advice from my mom about making our country and your life great again. This is all great spring cleaning for our souls!)
Now, you see why my brother Aaron and I wrote in the foreword of our mom's autobiography: "If there are two words to describe our Mom, it would be kindness and love. When anyone meets Mom, they feel like they have known her all their lives, because of her kind and loving spirit. In other words, Mom has said every morning for as long as we can remember, 'Lord, use me for your Glory.' And we believe He has done just that! God, thank you for giving us the best Mom in the world!"

Mom, I don't know what's more difficult to believe: that you are 103 years-old or that you have an eldest son who is 84 years old! Regardless, I'm so grateful you are my mom. I always have been. We've been through thick and thin in this life, and we are still going strong. (Here's my mom's five-minute interview on the Mike Huckabee show, when he used to be on Fox, for those that want to hear more from that amazing centennial saint!)

I love you, mom! Happy Birthday! Save me a piece of cake!

(If you're so inclined, you can order my mom's autobiography, "Acts of Kindness: My Story," from Amazon. It also makes a great gift for a special woman or man in your life. I guarantee you that it will inspire you or a loved one you give it to.)

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The post If my 103-year-old mom were president, Part 1 appeared first on WND.