Happy Mother's Day
My son Travis was in Georgia this week for work. Knowing he was traveling home today, I texted him and asked him if they were headed home already. He said they were and that one of the guys had insisted he drive the whole way home, even though the four guys had agreed to take three-hour shifts. I responded saying at least he tried…as long as the guy is a decent driver. Travis’ unfortunate response was that he was NOT. I kind of laughed and told him I’d up my prayers! As I lifted him and his co-workers up in prayer for God’s hedge of protection, I asked God to return Travis home safe and sound…that I didn’t want to spend Mother’s Day in the hospital. I shouldn’t have let it slip my lips as I try not to speak negative things into existence, but in doing so, it brought a thought to my mind and prompted me to pray for a friend who has lost both of her children.
As believers, one thing we’ve learned is that we aren’t promised tomorrow, and bad things happen to good people. We can’t understand this side of heaven why God does what he does and I pray that when I get to heaven, I will be so in awe of the presence of God that I will forget all the endless questions I thought I needed answers to. I think as mothers, we tend to bond with our kids like no one else can, maybe because, for most of us, we carry them in our womb for nine months and they are literally a part of us. We love them, we have high hopes for them, we imagine their full and productive futures…and then the unfathomable happens. For some mothers, like my friend, their children are taken from them too soon and their hopes and dreams are shattered. In no normal circumstance should any parent have to bury a child; it just isn’t the natural order of life as we know it. But when you love and trust God, like my friend does without a doubt, you manage to go on, day by day and inch by inch, because you recognize you still have purpose.
We often think of friends and family who have lost loved ones during the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays, when we see that not everyone is as cheerful and into the celebrations like the majority of us. But we don’t really think of Mother’s Day, and how this day may be extremely hard for those who’ve lost their children. I can’t imagine the immense sense of loss and pain, but I watch in wonder as my friend enters a room with a smile on her face, and shows kindness to everyone she encounters. Only a relationship with Jesus can make that happen. She is a “mom” to many in our church and though she may not have children to call her “mom,” she has grandkids and greatgrands to keep her on her toes!
Whether you’re a mom who has lost a beloved child, or a woman who aspires to be a mom someday, anyone can have a mothering spirit, to show love to others like only a mother could. Happy Mother’s Day.