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Seeing God In Motherhood
Brian Mashburn
May 11, 2014
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Your Mother
We use the term "mother" in a number of ways: Our "mother tongue" is our native language. The "motherland" is the home you left and long for. "Mother Nature" shines the warmth of her sun, nourishes us with rain, and is also the unpredictable source of typhoons and tornadoes. A "mother lode" is a source of riches that has been discovered, from which much can be tapped. I used to occasionally get what I call "the mother of all headaches," meaning that it is extreme and debilitating.
Mother is a powerful word. Why? Because mothers are powerful. Have you heard that France is in the process of banning the words "Mother" and "Father" from all legal documents in favor of the more politically correct term "parents"? They can make a law that erases the word from papers in government files, but good luck with erasing the power of and need for mothers. Good luck with trying to convince the world that there is nothing distinct and necessary about the separate roles of mothers and fathers.
We all have mothers. And they are so powerful that just the word can invoke images anywhere from warmth and welcome to turning your blood to ice, and sometimes a mixture of both.
Either way, today is a day when we are to be mindful of our mothers. We honor them by expressing gratitude for all they have given that was good, and by forgiving any brokenness in them that delivered to us anything less.
Jesus set the standard for being mindful of our mothers when, while he was suffering more than we will ever know, when it was rightly all about him, and the weight of the world was literally on his shoulders, he said, "Dear woman, here is your son." (John 19:26)
I love you, mom. You are one of the great ones.