Frequently I have heard it said of some boy, 'he is tied to his mother's apron strings.' Sometimes this is said in ridicule of a boy, yet had you thought that it might also be a high commendation?
Columnist John R. Gunn writes, "It depends on the mother and the type of strings which tie her son to her. When we speak of mother's apron strings, we mean mother's love, her teaching, her example, her influence, so mother's apron strings may be the strings of example and faith that bind us to God and the better things of life. How strong these strings are; what a distance they reach. "
In a log cabin in southern Indiana, a mother was dying - "Abe", she said to her son, "love everybody, hinder nobody, never lie, never drink, never steal and some day the world will be glad that you have lived." It was a long distance from that little cabin in the woods of Indiana to the White House in Washington, but the apron strings of Nancy Hanks reached all the way. Years later, Abraham Lincoln said, "All that I am, all that I hope to be - I owe to my angel mother."
A boy may be proud to be tied to his mother's apron strings, if it is her teachings, her faith in God, her virtues which guide his life. To be tied to this type of mother by her love, her teaching, her example and influence - what better thing could you ask? After all, these are the strings that will hold you fast to the real values of life.