May. Mom. Mother’s Day. Who would argue that mothers are part of every culture, language, and place where humans live? So we celebrate God’s gift.

When God created Eve, she became the first mother, the “mother of all the living” (Genesis 3:20). Since that beginning, God’s creative design has worked as he intended. He has blessed us all with life and the potential to be a benefit to others. Our generation lists leaders, scientists, writers, lawyers, judges, protectors of life, healers, and many productive people. They are God’s gifts to us all through the mothers who gave them life. As God intended, a new generation will replace them as it always has.

We might wonder about the generations to come. In our own generation we see the good, but we also see the potential for destruction and sorrow. We don’t know how the future will unfold. One thing we can do is to praise God for his blessings. We can also love, influence, advise as we have opportunity, and turn the future over to God who has always shown love for his children. He will work all things out for our good, even when the days seem dark and gloomy.

Through the years, we remember much about our mothers, both the good and the bad. Most of us have memories of a mother who leaned over to embrace us with a hug and a kiss. We remember our home as a place of refuge—a loving place where we learned lessons about warmth and caring from our mothers. Perhaps a gift of May flowers can begin to express our love and thanks to our mothers.

Mothers—like fathers, children and all humans—are filled with faults and sins. . . . But God’s gift is his forgiveness.

A few will not be ready to celebrate Mother’s Day or remember their mothers in happy flashes of memory. For some, abuse and neglect are more vivid memories. Home life may have been a long series of conflicts. The scars have left many unhappy about their mothers, their fathers, their families, and the world itself. Yet even those who have had less than ideal mothers and those who harbor ideas vastly contrary to God’s design live and breathe because of their mothers.

Some mothers may have some uneasy memories too. Children are not always the little blessings God intended them to be. We live in a world and among people who are selfish, greedy, and prone more to disobedience and disruption than quiet obedience. Temper tantrums, defiance, and disobedience don’t endear children to their mothers. When we as parents see their faults—and our own faults mirrored in them—at times we want to hide our faces in our hands and sigh, perhaps even cry.

For those memories and trials God provides a priceless blessing—his forgiveness. Mothers—like fathers, children and all humans—are filled with faults and sins that spill over into relationships at all levels. But God’s gift is his forgiveness. He sent his only Son, born of a woman, for us. We are cleansed by his blood (1 John 1:7). That gift is magnified because it gives us all the model and strength to forgive ourselves, our children, and our parents.

To that forgiveness, may God add large doses of patience, love, and persistence to Christian mothers. May their hands and arms be like the Savior’s, reaching out to bless the little ones. He forgives the faults of these little ones as surely as he forgives those of every mother—every human. Happy Mother’s Day.

Author: John A. Braun
Volume 109, Number 05
Issue: May 2022

Facebook comments

Comments