Dear Mothers:
Today is a special day, not because someone a long time ago decided that there ought to be a day dedicated to mothers, but because you are responsible for all that has ever gone on in this world.
How you have nurtured the greatest people in this world! It was your love, your wisdom, your kindness and sternness that helped shape the people who have made an impact in life and society.
Whether you were the mother of a Moses or Rahab, the mother of Adam the first man on earth or Adam Clayton Powell, the mother of Martin Luther or Rev Dr Martin Luther King, it was you who gave the world its values and strength.
In spite of the stain of sexism which has always been a part of life, you pressed on and did what only a mother could and can do. Isn’t it strange and ironic that the men who YOU shaped had the audacity later to say that women were inferior? Yet, though you knew that to be the case and though you probably taught the little boys and girls that sexism was right, you still taught enough other things that helped some people push through the biases to make a new world.
You held your babies close to your heart when they came from the womb, and you kept that place open for them always, no matter how old they got. You worried and worry whether they were and are 3 or 93. The children were always your children, deserving of a love that has no bounds.
Some of you buried babies or children who died too young, and next to your heart, or perhaps in your heart, you carried a grief that has never gone away. You never let the grief stop you, though, and by moving through your pain, you taught your children to do the same.
You made your children mad, but your anger helped them grow and they in turn made you proud. You ached when you had to give tough love lessons, and did not let the children see the tears of pain and fear that fell from your eyes as you watched them make horrible mistakes, only to later make honorable decisions borne from the wisdom the mistakes imparted to them.
You cooked when there was little to cook; you washed and ironed and sewed and cleaned. You rocked the children when there was nobody to rock you. You learned to “make do” and in so doing, helped the children learn that as well.
Some of you couldn’t be mothers when your children were young. Life and life’s issues got to you, and you did things you wish you hadn’t. You missed valuable time with your children when they were little, and you ache about that today.
But here’s the best thing: whether you were there for your children or not, you have a mother too, in Christ Jesus, who is there for you, no matter what. Mary raised her boy well; Jesus loved us all and loves us all, no matter how much we did or did not do for our children, no matter how much or how little we were there.
You have a mother in Christ Jesus who loves you, even if your own mother didn’t, and so for that you should rejoice. The children who pout because you were not there have a mother as well in Christ Jesus. And this Jesus loves you so much that he was there for your children even when you could not be there, or would not be there.
This is the same Jesus who has been there for me, ever since my mother died when I was so young. It’s the same Jesus who was there for so many people who did not have a mother they could feel and touch. The maternal spirit of our God reached down and touched us through Jesus, and for that we can all be thankful.
This is not a day to be angry or sad if your own mother was not there for you; God sent Jesus to fill in the gap, to stand in the breach. Nor is this a day for you to put yourself down if you feel you fell short as a mother; God sent Jesus as well to let you know that there is no condemnation.
But as there is no condemnation from Jesus, let there not be condemnation from you toward your mother for her shortcomings. She can only be as she is; love her for what she was able to give you. Give that to the children in your life, whether biological or adopted, and then add the love that Jesus gave YOU as you endured the lack in your own life.
Do not mourn this day because your mother is dead, or because perhaps your mother is not what you need her to be. Lean on the arms of Jesus and absorb his unfailing love. Take off the bandages that cover old sores and let God’s maternal love touch you.
And then, give to some other child what you feel your mother didn’t give to you…and in so doing, be the mother to someone else that Jesus was to you, even when you didn’t know it.
Happy Mother’s Day!

Pastor Smith