Mother's Day

This Mother's Day DH and Son#5 took my MIL and I out for lunch. We ended up at a very pretty garden cafe enjoying the rather unusually warm weather and each other's company. It was a precious time.

For me, no visits from my grown sons today but that's okay. Sons#2 & 3 came for dinner last night with wife/girlfriend (depending on their marital status - they did not each bring a wife and a girlfriend - that wouldn't be allowed) and I spoke to Son#4 on the phone since he wasn't able to be here. Son#1 and his family are in Australia visiting my parents and my mother was apparently enjoying breakfast with The Most Adorable Granddaughter#2 when I texted her this morning. I'm thrilled that my mother is enjoying my granddaughters almost as much as I do (I doubt anyone could enjoy them as much as I do - that's a right I reserve for myself alone) and that she was able to spend today with them when she's had so many years without her own children around her on Mother's Day.

I used to dislike Mother's Day and Mother's Day Sermons in particular. Years and years ago I read an article by a Christian woman where she said that she felt Mother's Day Sermons were a way for men to "give the little woman a pat on the head and expect her to shut up and do her job for another year." Those words really influenced how I felt about Mother's Day and left a sour taste in my mouth that took me years to be rid of. It wasn't until I acknowledged that such words robbed me of any joy I might feel when others honoured me for my role as a mother and were in fact a disservice to my husband and my sons who only ever expected me to do what I'd always done - love - that I was able to break their power over me.

I realise that such words probably have their roots in feminism and in its disdain for the God-given roles of men and women. It's sad that we have allowed the world to distort not only our view of motherhood but also the way we each personally view our roles.

For being a mother is a wonderful, incredible, beautiful, life-changing role that I am blessed and honoured to have experienced. To pour your gifts and talents and time into the future generation is a privilege and one that should never be taken lightly. To have a day where we can reflect on our role as mothers and on our own mothers is something we should treat as sacred. To do otherwise is demeaning to all mothers and to ourselves.

The Bible talks about mothers. Good mothers ... not so good mothers ... mothers longing for a child ... mothers with one child or many ... mothers who suffered the agony of losing a child ... mothers who sacrificed everything for their children ... mothers who changed the world. I believe that God honours mothers. He chose them to do a very important task - one that only mothers could do. Let's not devalue what mothers do.

To mothers reading my post today: Happy Mother's Day!

(Photo taken with my mother over a year ago.)