These days are not easy. Sometimes you don't even realize it and all of a sudden...BAM...you find yourself stuck in a puddle of tears on a day that was meant to celebrate you. I get it Mom, it is hard to celebrate you, when a part of you is missing.
I know.
I understand that pain, the pain of wondering how you are supposed to be happy on your birthday, when you know that you should have a 1 year old by your side, the pain of reading a Mother's Day card signed by all your children but one. It is not easy...this life. It was never meant to be easy, it was meant to be a testimony. And I learn day by day, that sometimes testimonies = tears. Sometimes testimony is defined by our pain and weakness healed by his joy and power. The problem with that is that it starts with our pain and weakness.
I don't know about you but showing pain and weakness is hardly ever on my to-do list. But it is time to get real. It is time to break down the walls and be transparent with each other and with our community of friends that care for us and pray for us. Some days, like maybe this Mother's Day, are not good days for us. Some days are still hard, and no amount of time will make these days easier. That's OK, friend. We are not meant to get through these days without thinking about our dear little ones that are on the lap of Jesus, we are meant to testify regardless of where they are.
It is our thorn in the flesh to walk this life with a part of us in heaven. There are days for me that I can't decide if Ruthie being with Jesus makes eternity feel closer or further away. All of these painful thoughts, moments and decisions are not the important thing. The important thing is that Jesus made a way for us to have one spectacular Mother's Day when we get to Heaven.
I have a message on my heart for you, and I believe it is from the Lord Himself. Forget "Happy" Mother's Day...let's strive to have "Joyful Mother's Day". Why do I say that? Joy comes not from our circumstances, but from Christ Himself. If we know Jesus, nothing in this life can steal the good news of His Spirit indwelling us. He is the very being that turns beauty into ashes, the very being that changes the water of our life into wine. Joy is not about our feelings or emotions, it comes from our overwhelming hope in Jesus. Happy makes things about us, joyful makes them about Jesus. So this Mother's Day, take the pressure off yourself to be "happy" all day, and determine to focus on Jesus and be joyful. Let Mother's Day be about Him, the Maker of the Universe that created you to be a Mother, and the awesome work of art you are in this world. God has used Motherhood to mold you and shape you into a closer likeness of His image, and no matter how He went about it (even if it caused tears and pain) I know the Lord looks down on His creation, His work of art, You, and says, "Very Good."
Maybe this Mother's Day you are hurting because of infertility...your only children are in Heaven and you feel like you have nothing to show here on Earth. My heart hurts for you, but you are still a Mother. Only a Mother would hand her child back to the Lord, long before she could meet him/her and spend the rest of her days with the blessed assurance of seeing her child again. If you miss your child, you are a Mom. We cannot separate ourselves from our calling as mother. We were designed to first help our husbands and second create and fill the earth. Producing children is the miracle within us, but even greater is the bond created once we know life is in us. We can't cut our love off, we can't love our children less when they mess up. God has planted within us a piece of His spirit that we don't know or understand until we have children: overwhelming love despite their sin. Nothing can take our love away from our children...not even having them pass into the arms of Jesus. You my dear friend, who only births babies into the arms of God, are no less a mother than I. You are no less blessed than I, though the world might speak terrible lies into your life. I know and understand the emptiness in your spirit, and I don't make light of your pain, but I still believe in my spirit that you are so much a Mom, and you too deserve to celebrate a Joyful Mother's Day.
Friend, I don't know your circumstance, but I can understand your pain on this day. Let's try our hardest this year to put our eyes on Jesus, to receive all the joy He wants to bestow upon us, and celebrate our role as mothers...not necessarily with happiness, but with joy and hope.
Joyful Mother's Day to you Mom!
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