May,
2002
"Honoring
Moms"
"Honor
your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded
you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you
in the land the Lord your God is giving you." Deuteronomy
5:16.
Mother's Day
is a special day we set aside for our mothers and grandmothers.
Of course it takes more than just one special day a year to honor
our parents, it takes a lifetime of commitment to return the blessing
to them for the input they have had in our lives. But it is appropriate
that we come together as families, churches, communities and even
as a nation, to pay tribute to the women who have impacted our
lives in so many ways. These women we desire to honor may not
even be the ones who have given us physical birth - but they are
the ones who have given birth to the ideals, hopes, visions, goals
and faith in us that they have implanted through their love, care
and concern.
I know this
is a hard time of year for some of you as you spend your Mother's
Day away from the one who gave you birth. The sadness and loss
one feels at the passing of a mother is stirred in our hearts
during many seasons throughout the year. I know, too, that many
of you are feeling the loneliness of being away from your children.
They have grown and gone and moved away from the family - or perhaps
you have moved away from them. Separation from our loved ones,
especially our children, is difficult at best.
Probably the
saddest and yet most blessed Mother's Day I have ever spent occurred
ten months after moving away from my daughter and my ill mother,
and five months after my mother passed away. I was feeling very
depressed and alone - missing my Mother on this first Mother's
Day since her death. I was longing for my daughter, having last
seen her at Christmas when we flew back for the funeral of my
mother.
The doorbell
rang on that Mother's Day morning in 1995, and I almost fainted
as I stood there in shock looking into my daughter's face. My
husband had flown my daughter into town to be with me on this
special day. How wonderful and comforting. What a glorious surprise.
I was so blessed. We spent the next two days just being together
doing fun things. Our time together culminated in a trip to Glamour
Shots, where we got "made-up" and donned our black leather
jackets for a great photo shoot. Those are still some of my very
favorite pictures. God can truly turn our mourning into dancing!!!!!
Even as I
write this, I know that some of your hearts are breaking over
your children who are estranged from you and from the Lord. I
truly wish I could promise their soon return. But what I can promise
is that God loves them more than you could ever begin to. And
He is there with them - even when you don't know where they are.
He is working everything to their good. And, yes, He does hear
and is answering your prayers for your children. Isaiah 54 has
a beautiful promise. He says in verse 13 that all of your sons
and daughters will be taught by the Lord and great will be your
children's peace. Cling to that promise as you continue to stand
for them in prayer.
For others of you, Mother's Day can bring sadness and pain in
a very different way. You may so desire to be a mother, but the
issues of infertility have consumed you. Or perhaps you have had
to live with the tragic death of a child, through miscarriage,
medical or accidental circumstances, or perhaps even abortion.
God can bring you comfort in the midst of your heartache and pain.
And He can use it for good in other's lives. There is a wonderful
web-site called (www.Hannah.org)
which ministers to women who are struggling with these desperate
concerns and need some support and encouragement from a friend
in the Lord. Isaiah 54 is a wonderful chapter in the Bible that
can bring you some comfort as well. There is nothing like the
Word of God to transform our hearts to a place of peace.
Well, whether
memories of our mother are good or bad, happy or sad, we all have
mothers. Some of them are still alive and some have passed on
to be with the Lord. Sad to say, some are not with the Lord. And
most of us will be mothers - having given birth from our physical
bodies to a child that grew in our womb. And some of you will
not be mothers in this physical sense.
But mothering
is a strange and wonderful thing, and in this we can rejoice.
We can all be spiritual mothers. We can all be nurturers. We can
all give birth to a seed of faith in others if we are open to
serving the Lord. We can all yield our lives to caring for the
little babes in Christ that God places in our path. We can all
adopt the younger women in our neighborhoods and churches and
families and teach and train them, as it says in Titus 2:4.
Well, how
do we honor our mothers? What if there was a lot wrong with the
way our mother raised us? What if we are disconnected and misunderstood?
How can we keep the commandment of Deuteronomy 5:16, which is
the first commandment with a promise attached to it if we obey?
"Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God
has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go
well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you."
I am sure that we all want to keep this command of the Lord's
so that we can live long and prosperous lives.
There is not
one of us who hasn't (or doesn't) need to deal in some way with
our mother's poor mothering skills. We also all must come to a
place of being restored to the process of proper mothering within
ourselves so the we can go on and be a godly, healthy nurturer
to others. There is a wonderful book that can help you sort through
some of these issues. It is called The Mom Factor by Dr. Henry
Cloud and Dr. John Townsend - Zondervan Publishing © 1996.
So how can
we honor our mothers? By being an honorable mother ourself. By
taking care of the past issues and moving on in godliness to a
future of positive and healthy nurturing of others that the Lord
brings into our lives. By looking for the positive traits of our
mother. By forgiving. By loving. By appreciating. By receiving
forgiveness from our own children.
If your mother
or grandmother is alive, why not call her and tell her how much
you love and appreciate her. Be sure to give your spiritual moms
a hug as well, with a great big thank you for who they have been
in your life. If you cannot do this in person, because your mom
or grandmom or spiritual mom has already passed on, be sure to
tell someone else about them so that their memory can live on.
Remind yourself of the good and happy times. Take their place
as the family prayer warrior lifting up those whom they prayed
for. Raise up your own children in the fear and admonition of
the Lord.
As you honor
your mother and honor God, you, too, can receive the blessing
of the Proverbs 31 woman. "Her children arise and call her
blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: Many women do noble
things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty
is fleeting: but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her
praise at the city gate." (Proverbs 31:28-31)
"Lord,
teach us how to be godly women and mothers. Help us to know You
and Your love and to share that love with our children. And Lord
we ask that You bring many children into our lives that we can
nurture and love in Your name. Set us free from any unforgiveness
that we may harbor toward our own mothers or caretakers. Forgive
our own sins against our children. Release the power of the Holy
Spirit into our lives so that we might be Your witnesses in our
families and churches and neighborhoods and businesses. Help us
to draw the little ones into Your kingdom for Your glory. We ask
this in the name of Your Son, Jesus Christ. Amen."
L.O.V.E.,
Patty
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