As Mother’s Day approaches, I wish a Happy Mother’s Day to every mom out there! The demands on today’s moms are great. Babies and toddlers need constant care, and as children grow there is homework to supervise, sports or dance activities to take kids to, counsel to offer regarding college choices, etc., not to mention meals to prepare, laundry to do, and financial obligations to meet!
But motherhood does not necessarily need to be overwhelming or frustrating, even during stressful situations.
My mom was widowed when my sister and I were young teens. Her stress level rose overnight as she needed to find a job, become both mother and father to her two children, and overcome her grief. She told me one day that as she turned to God as the Father and Mother of herself and her children, she realized that stress did not have to characterize her life.
During these years, especially when faced with overwhelming fear, she often sang the words of a loved hymn which speaks about God’s mothering love: “O Love, our Mother, ever near/ To Thee we turn from doubt and fear! / In perfect peace our thoughts abide/ Our hearts now in this truth confide: /Man is the child of God.” She became a much stronger woman.
I’ll never forget the time I came home from school and she told me, “Thank God. Go ahead, thank Him.” When I did, she told me that she had been worried about a real estate tax bill that was coming due and had prayed for the intelligence to find a way to pay the large amount. That day, a dividend check from some stock she had from my father’s workplace came in the mail, covering the tax bill completely. She said she would never worry about finances again, knowing she could trust God’s mothering care.
All three of us really learned to trust God. His/Her guidance led all of us to employment, and both my sister and I graduated from college. In her later years, my mom always had more than she needed financially to meet her needs.
So as we approach Mother’s Day and think of our own mom or another mom who has helped us, let’s remember to honor our divine Mother and thank Her, too. We can never be separated from the divine Father-Mother God.
