Grace and Peace from our Lord Jesus Christ!
Mother’s Day comes in May, but it just doesn’t seem right to honor mothers on one day of the year. To be sure, Scripture says to honor your father and your mother. So this is not something we are called to do once a year but all the time. Yet what Mother’s Day does for us is to set aside a special time to honor those for whom we owe life. It is practice for other days of the year, but it also is a time for us to publicly give thanks to those who are mothers to us.
When I say that we owe life to our mothers it is a reminder that our mothers have thus imitated God who is the source of all life. Indeed, by honoring mothers we are actually honoring God. I’m thinking much more broadly than just about our time in the womb and our birth, even more broadly than just about those who have been like mothers to us in our second birth (as Christians become born again), but also to all of those women who have spoken words of life or done deeds of life. Being a mother is more than just giving birth to a child and it is more even than evangelism. Being a mother is a way of approaching life and giving life – and that life abundantly – to others. Thus we can honor all women who do so when we honor mothers.
Mother’s Day can also be a difficult time for many for various reasons. For some it brings up painful memories of abuse, others grieve the loss of one or more women they called mom, others grieve the loss of children (some pre-birth – including stillbirths, miscarriages, and abortion, others as young children, and others as adults), and then there are those who wanted children and experienced infertility or failed adoptions. Many of you know Sarah Pawlak. She has written a book review of From Grief to Glory mentioning her own experience available from https://banneroftruth.org/us/resources/book-review-resources/2009/from-grief-to-glory-a-review-by-sarah-pawlak/. I would encourage you to read it. When we honor mothers we can weep with those who are weeping and rejoice with those who are rejoicing. I would encourage you to be in prayer for those you know for whom this is a painful subject.
This Mother’s Day let me also encourage you to invite your families and others for whom you have given life. It is a day for us all to honor you.
In Christ,
Pastor Justin
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