HONORING MOMS
One day out of the year, we have a beautiful opportunity to give back to the people who have given us so much: our moms. Sunday is a special day. Moms, you are amazing. You have endured tantrums, sleepless nights, dirty diapers, teen drivers, fixing dinners, mom’s taxi service, and dance recitals. All of this without any applause. Some of you worked full time and mothered full time. Again, you are amazing. I don’t know how you did it. One thing is for certain, being a mom is one of the most difficult jobs created.
Yet, for many of those here, Mother’s Day is a difficult Sunday. Motherhood is a joyful sorrow, a mournful gladness. You spend all of your energy raising and preparing your sweet children to grow up and leave you. Yet, God puts a value on motherhood. One of the Ten Commandments specifically commands us to honor our mothers. Proverbs 1 explains that son’s should not forsake their mother’s teaching. In fact, the last chapter of Proverbs is advice that a king received from his mother what kind of wife to look for. Isaiah 66 compares God’s comfort to his people to the comfort a mother gives her child.
Amy Young wrote an amazing benediction for her church. I found it powerful. I hope you will too.
“To those who give birth this year to their first child –
we celebrate with you
To those who lost a child this year –
we mourn with you
To those who are in the trenches with little ones every day and wear the badge of food stains –
we appreciate you
To those who experience loss through miscarriage, failed adoptions, or running away –
we mourn with you
To those who walk the hard path of infertility and disappointment –
we walk with you
To those who are foster moms, mentor moms, and spiritual moms –
we need you
To those who have warm and close relationships with your children –
we celebrate with you
To those who have disappointment, and heartache with your children –
we sit with you
To those who lost their mothers this year –
we grieve with you
To those who are single and long to be married and mothering your own children –
we mourn that life has not turned out the way you longed for it to be
To those who step parent –
we walk with you on these complex paths
To those who placed children up for adoption –
we commend you for your selflessness and remember how you hold that child in your heart
An to those who are pregnant with new life, both expected and surprising –
we anticipate with you.”
This Mother’s Day, we walk with you. Mothering is not for the faint of heart. Make sure this week you thank whomever you call “Mom” for being the best person on the planet at her job. This week we remember and walk with you, Mom.
See you in church for Mother’s Day,
Todd Smith