It's not about me

Some of the amazing women in my life

In my previous blog post I talked about my mom and how much I learned from her.  I enjoy having a day set aside to celebrate my mom.  I hope I take time to celebrate her more than twice a year-on her birthday and on Mother's Day!

I have read a lot from various blogs and Facebook status updates over the past couple of days to realize that not everyone likes Mother's Day.  I knew this before.  I have seen it on faces and heard it in voices before.  I haven't thought about it very deeply before.

For me, personally, this Mother's Day, I have realized that it is not about me.  This is a day to celebrate my mom, my grandmas, my aunts, my 'adopted' moms, the women who have spoken truth into my life.  I am not a mom.  I am pretty sure I will not ever be a biological mom.  I have gone through a lot of struggles getting to the point of being able to say that with contentment-most days.  But, as I celebrate Mother's Day, I do not lament the fact that I am not a mom.  I celebrate these wonderful women in my life.

My friend, Stacy, introduced me to an incredible blogpost from a woman in a similar life situation to mine.  She is a single missionary.  I really appreciated what she had to say, the way that she encouraged the readers to think about what we say to others before we say it.

Then, Stacy wrote a blogpost about losing her mother, about being a mother and about sharing joy and pain in our faith community.

Both of these women helped me understand, in a deeper way, the joys and pains of celebrating.  As a fellowship of believers, we should be there to stand with our sisters when they rejoice and to weep with our sisters when they grieve.  We shouldn't hide either our joy or our grief because we are afraid to hurt others or be hurt by others.

It hurts my heart to think that there are women who don't want to attend church on a day that celebrates mothers.  They have a pain that is deep.  Maybe I don't understand it fully, but as their sister in Christ, I want to share the pain with them, to help carry the burden.  And, I believe Jesus calls us to do just that.

Mother's Day is not about me.  It is about me celebrating with and grieving with my sisters in Christ, as He has called us to do, not just once a year, but every day.

Mom

A few years ago I wrote a post about my mom.  This week I reviewed it since I am speaking at CrossRoad on Mother's Day.  As I prepared my message on 2 Timothy 1:3-7, here are some thoughts that crossed my mind to add to what I had already written.  Since it is Mother's Day, I am talking about my mom, however, this also applies to my dad!

I learned about God from my mother's sincere faith (and she learned from her mom!)  I learned by watching her.  I watched her interact with people in a sincere way.  I watched her love her family and friends through her actions and words.  I watched her love God through her Bible reading and worship at church.

I didn't just learn through watching, though.  She also taught my sister and me directly.  Every night after supper, we read the Bible and prayed as a family.  When we misbehaved, she taught us how to apologize.  When we went to church, she taught us how to worship and learn and asked us about what we thought.

I am thankful for parents who believed it was important for me to know Jesus.  Not just know about Jesus, but to really know Jesus.

Thank you, Mom!
Thank you, Dad!
Thank you, God!