Mother’s Day is a lovely holiday. It’s a time to honor our Mammas and give them the attention that they rightly deserve. I’m blessed to have a mother who is loving and who has always give me her best. She showed me first hand what it looks like to work really hard and to sacrifice to take care of her family. A single mother for much of my life, she has never been afraid to do anything from dealing with unreasonable customers and bosses to scrubbing floors and toilets. She is proud of doing a good job, but not too proud to do the job that needs to be done. My Mamma has raised more children than she has birthed, given generously of herself in a way that many people would not do. She also taught me what it means to be a tiger-Mamma – the kind that is ferocious in her protection of her children. Her laugh is contagious and I love to see her smile. I have always thought she was the most beautiful woman and that she had the voice of an angel. I want to be like her when I grow up.
This is my Mamma giving me a hug (and a hard time) on my 40th birthday last year! She’s the best.
But Mother’s Day isn’t always happy. It’s a hard day if you want to be a mother and aren’t. I’ve been there. Finally, I am mamma to the most beautiful almost-2 year old boy! He is the joy of my life and I’m so grateful to be his mother. However, for many years this holiday came and went, and while I was happy to celebrate my own mother, I longed to be celebrated too. It’s also hard if you don’t have the relationship you want with your own mother. In my life, God has blessed me with many women who have nurtured me…who have mothered me. I hope that I’ve been able to do a bit of that myself when younger women and girls in my life have needed it. I hope I can keep doing that for the rest of my life. If this is your plight on Mother’s Day, know that there are many factors that give you the chance to mother. Take every opportunity to nurture, love and instruct those around you in the way they should go, particularly younger women.
Scripture says it like this in the book of Titus [my bracketed comments]:
3 Likewise, teach the older women [Titus is being instructed] to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. 4 Then they [this is you!] can urge the younger women to love their husbands and children, 5 to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God.
So, this mothering takes the form of teaching other women to live in such a way as to bring honor and glory to God. Happy Mother’s Day, friend. May this be an encouragement to you today!
