Sermon for Sunday - May 11, 2014: Mother's Day

A Mother's Love

There are times when only a mother's love

Can understand our tears,

Can soothe our disappoints

And calm all of our fears.

There are times when only a mother's love

Can share the joy we feel

When something we've dreamed about

Quite suddenly is real.

There are times when only a mother's faith

Can help us on life's way

And inspire in us the confidence

We need from day to day.

For a mother's heart and a mother's faith

And a mother's steadfast love

Were fashioned by the angels

And sent from God above.

--Author Unknown

What can we say about mothers?  There are mothers that are everything, and mothers that are not so much.  There are mothers that could think of nothing more fulfilling than to have children and devote the time necessary to raising them.  There are those that wish they could, but life has dealt them a hand requiring the need of a paycheck, so they give what they can and make the most of the time they have.  There are those that have children out of a sense of duty, wishing to get it done and over with, and forget the responsibility motherhood demands just as quickly.  I wonder, for these women, how it feels to be looked upon as "breeding stock," and be forgotten, just as quickly as they conceived, by the child they care so little about.

"I think that each person has the right to define that word for themselves. My mother (who both gave birth to me AND raised me) wasn't much of a mother. I have a close friend who I consider to be my chosen mother. I know people who are adamant that the woman who raised them is their ONLY mother (even if that's not legally correct), and I know people who feel strongly that the woman who raised them is NOT their mother (adopted and otherwise). I don't really feel that it's my place to tell them they're wrong...it's THEIR life, and they have the right to define the roles of the people in their own lives. Just as I do. Just as you do."  

-- Gaia Raain 

Real mothers know who they are, and mothers rightfully judge those that play at it and those that are serious about the role; other than God, I think they are the only ones that have earned the right.  It is not enough to proclaim you went through the "right of passage" by begrudgingly bearing the pain involved with squeezing a large baby out through a comparatively small opening, as humbling as that concept is to any honest man.  The question is, how do we define a mother in the context of Mother's Day?

"MY definition of mother is someone who loves unconditionally and places the needs of her children above her own, on a personal level, and not only with words, but also actions." 

-- JoHn S.

Thank you, JoHn.  I think that says it all.

May God bless and keep all mothers, and help those that fall short to realize their full potential and what motherhood truly means.