1 Corinthians 13: 4 - 7 NKJV
While most people awoke this morning with thoughts as to how they would celebrate Mothers Day, I reflected on that which had been. Indeed, we do well to celebrate the women in our lives who have had the honor of raising children. This in itself is no easy task, as I was so often reminded of as I was growing up. Even now I reflect on some of the things I did as a child and wonder just how my mother found the strength to deal with such a impetuous child. Then again, we all have our moments. On this Mothers Day, my thoughts are not of how I will honor my own mother, but how she has honored me as her son. It seems that Mothers Day has not had the same meaning for me since my mom passed, only that I see it from a different perspective. Only recently have I truly seen the sacrafice that my mother went through for her own sons. When I was younger I wondered why she wasn't around as much and why she couldn't be home when I got home from school. Although I knew that she knew God, I wondered why I would often see her on her knees praying in our living room. Back then, it never occured to me that all of this, all that she did...was for me. See, when we're young we don't have time to think of such things. We have better things to think of...field trips, hockey and video games. What do love and sacrafice mean to a ten year old? However, it is because of that sacrafice that I am who I am today.
17Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. 18There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. 19We love Him because He first loved us.
1 John 4: 17 - 19 NKJV
It's funny how we most always fail to understand the reasons why our own parents made the decisions which they did until we ourselves are grown. So it was with me. These are the things which I reflect on Mothers Day. It's hard to imagine that one person would give so much for me. But that is exactly what Jesus did for me as well. Despite the sin nature which I was born with, it was Christ Jesus who loved me in spite of this {Romans 5:8}. As I know in my heart that my own mother had a heart for Jesus, I know that He loved her first as well. I am confident that she is resting now with Him, free of the worries of this life. I realize that things were not always easy for her being a single parent, but she remained strong in the Lord. As I think back, her first reaction to any stressful situation that came along was to lift it in prayer. For those who knew her, she was indeed a prayer warrior. Even as she was recovering in a care facility, one of the things she missed the most was being in church among her friends. No one could ever say that she didn't love Jesus. I am also grateful that she passed this on to me. For in those trials in my own life, I am reminded of how she would turn to her heavenly Father in prayer in the midst of the storms of her life. I could not have had a better example of a Godly person. Happy Mothers Day mom...thank you.
~Scott~
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