Connections
Connection. I suppose if you were searching for one word to describe mothers on this special day then the word connection might be it. Sure, I know we usually use words like loving or gracious to describe her personality. Other words like discipline and hospitality are sure to come up when describing her work. I know also that some of you haven’t had that experience with your own mother. So, that is why the word connection seems to be the most appropriate word. Regardless of the relationship, there is an undeniable connection that every living being has to a mother. Long before you knew her and years before the relationship could be developed or strained there was connection—physically and emotionally.
I can with 100% confidence declare that every single person who is reading these thoughts today are only here because of that connection with their mother. I’ve had the joy of being in the room with Kenya at every one of our five kids’ births. I have had the humbling experience of cutting each of them away from the lifeline that they had in the womb. After the doctor brought them from their safe nest inside the belly of their mother out into the light of the bold new world, the final act of separation had to take place. The umbilical cord—the last physical connection the child has to the mother—must be cut and the child will forever be reliant on other means for growth and nourishment.
For some those connections are extended from the physical to the psychological and the spiritual. Many mothers continue to physically nourish their children, in addition to helping them learn to navigate the hurts and the successes. Many other moms choose to also spiritually guide their children toward the God that we serve.Unfortunately for many today it is more about the grief they face on Mother’s Day than it is the celebratory meals and gifts they receive. It could be that your mother has passed on to her reward and so today is difficult. Furthermore, it could also be the loss of your own child makes this day particularly difficult. Or perhaps there is a grief over the connection that they never really had with their mother.
Regardless of where your emotions and thoughts land on this day, it is clear that connection plays a role in it. And so, even in the difficult situations the beautiful concept of connection is clearly seen in every circumstance. For those who get to celebrate with your mother or your children then take the time to celebrate what you have. For those who will grieve today because of a loss or not yet holding your own child, I hope you find a blessing of gratitude for a loving spouse, a listening friend, and a praying church.
And for those who never had the gentle hand of your biological mother helping mold you through the impressionable years — know that there has always been another force with you. Our Father was “skillfully and wonderfully” making you in her womb (Psalm 139:14) and is the God who sees you in whatever place you are (Genesis 16:13). And while connecting with your mom may be unattainable, connecting with the Father is not complicated at all. And connecting with the Father, connects us to an amazing church that will love and support you “like a nursing mother caring for her own children” (1 Thessalonians 2:7).
Ben