Because My Mom Said So...

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"When your mother asks, 'Do you want a piece of advice?' it's a mere formality.  It doesn't matter if you answer yes or no, you're going to do it anyway." 

~ Erma Bombeck, author & American humorist

💓 Raise your hand if you think Mother's Day should be a whole year.  It takes that long to describe, appreciate, and master all the emotions that a mother goes through with her children, regardless of age.  

From the receiving end to the giving end of this day, emotions can permeate this holiday.  It can be filled with joy and fulfillment, or emptiness and sadness.  You can feel like your heart is bursting with contentment and gratitude because you are currently experiencing a meaningful relationship with your children or your own mother, or your heart may have a hole in it yearning to have more time with a mom that has passed, a longing to be filled with the role of motherhood, or the most grief-stricken hole of a lost child.

Our journey in this world can hold some pretty harsh seasons, but know that our Lord is "a refuge for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble." (Psalm 9:9-10)

  

💓 If you are a mother of young children, it is probably fresh in your tired, sleep-deprived mind the exhilaration of having heard the heartbeat for the first time at around 6 weeks of pregnancy.  Even at my age I can still feel the flutter of my baby moving.  Maybe the gratitude that the nauseousness is not a continual condition is what you're feeling today.  Yep, I don't miss that.  

Mother or bystander, the miracle of childbirth can't be described in our limited minds.  It's a compilation of biological mysteries with each parent's DNA, and knowing that God made all the delicate, inner parts of the body and knit them together in the mother's womb so that we are fearfully and wonderfully made.

💓 "When her child is born, her anguish gives way to joy because she has brought a new baby into the world." (John 16:21) 

Watching children grow up and trying to guide and direct them is not only challenging, but can at times be exhausting and overwhelming.  I remember many times feeling like I wasn't doing enough, or doing it at the right times, or not following up with great intentions, or feeding them the best food, or not being involved in their schools and education enough, and being misunderstood because it wasn't that I didn't want to do all those things-there just wasn't enough hours in my day.

💓 God reminds me in Isaiah 54:10 when I tend to feel inadequate that "though the mountains may move and the hills disappear, but even then My faithful love for you will remain."  

And lest I think that my children's upbringing is all on my shoulders, Paul tells us in 2 Corinthians,  "It is not that we think we are qualified to do anything on our own.  Our qualification comes from God."  That is because His grace is sufficient for us, because His power is made perfect in our weakness.  

Duy Huynh -Boundlessness in Bloom

💓 So I bid the guilt adieu.  God is in control, and knew what He was starting off with when He decided to make me a mother.  And He knows you just the same.  In His goodness, He has promised to complete a good work within us, and will continue His work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns (Phil 1:6).  

We are all inadequate and our loving Father has decided to work in us and through us.  The need for His help becomes blatantly apparent when our kids are tweenagers or full-on teenagers.  Whether it be challenges with your own, or challenges with other kids' behavior towards yours - it can be a faith-engaging time for both of you.  

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Cell phones, internet, social interactions, pandemics, dress code violations (haha the 8th grade teacher again), acceptable/not acceptable behavior norms - though not desirable cultural shifts it is not a surprise to God; and does not exceed what "He is able to do far more abundantly that we ask or think".  (Eph 3:20-21)

Just ask.  And keep on asking.  And then ask some more.   Ask Him for guidance in your own prayer time and together with your kids.  Don't be afraid to ask forgiveness from Him and from your kids if an overreaction or misstep has been taken.  Don't be afraid to require obedience from your children; they have friends, but only one mom.  Allow yourself to be human and make mistakes.  

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💓 To the beautiful woman whose heart desires to be a mom, or whose heart grieves because you have lost your precious one - please feel my tears and my hugs to you.  I know it is not enough.  But I know that God deems you so precious to Him.  He is keeping track of your sorrows and holds you in the palm of His hand.  Some here on earth may not understand but He understands because He, too, lost His Son.  Take your tears, confusion and even anger and lay them at the foot of the cross in prayer.  Our God, who knows what you are feeling because He created you, promises to walk alongside you and hold you up when needed.   

✙ Father, we come before You today as a daughter that sits at Your feet, both to be close to You and to rest by You.  This world can feel so heavy at times, making it seem hard to breathe.  And other times we feel so much gratitude because of what we've been given by You.  Either way - thank You for letting us sit at Your feet & share.  Thank You for the emotions we feel, but mostly thank You for the fact that You remain by us regardless of the emotions we feel.  You are faithful and steadfast; You hear our hearts even when we don't talk.  Thank You for making moms the way You make moms.  Amen.