For Moms
 |
| My Seraphina Vine from my brother |
However, May’s most notable celebration is Mother’s Day. If I were speaking to an
audience right now, I’d ask all the Moms
to stand, and we would celebrate you in style because you so deserve it.
Being a mom myself and now a grandmother, I
know it isn’t easy. Little ones take so much care, and we’re exhausted. As the
years fly by, little ones grow and take on a mind of their own. And even though this was our
goal all along, it’s also where the emotional pain starts. Soon, our children flourish into adulthood and leave home. As they do, most understand and respect the sacrifices
their parents made in raising them, but not all. Did we do things perfectly? No.
No one does since sin is in the world.
Still, their years of childhood should be like
water under a bridge. All the back-and-forth struggles flowing downstream,
never to pass our way again. Good memories are folded neatly on a shelf in the
storehouse of their mind, eager to be recalled. But the others should have been
duct-taped and shoved into a tiny alcove to never again see the light of day.
Normally, when our children, our gifts from the
LORD, become dads and moms themselves, they appreciate their upbringing and
respect and honor father and mother.[2] But many times, this isn’t
the case. Some adult children haven’t tucked away past hurts. Instead of honor,
we get blamed for all the ills in their lives, and they turn on us. We did our
best and parented the way we knew. So, what causes one child to love you and
the other to treat you with disdain?
I don’t have an answer, but God, who knows the
end from the beginning, does. He loves us and our children more than we ever
could. And while believers may have had extra parenting help from the Holy
Spirit, and we raised our children in the love and admonition of the LORD, that
didn’t guarantee whole and loving families.
It’s so puzzling. We were the ones who took
seriously the words God spoke to us and not our children. They were too young
to understand, and their minds could not yet take in how He commanded us to lay
up His words in our hearts and souls and bind them as a sign on our hands, as
frontlets between our eyes. We, like Israel, were to do this so we would never
forget why we do what we do and why we would teach God’s word to
our children as we sat in our house, walked by the way, when we lay down, and
when we rose up. The only thing we probably didn’t do was write His Word on the
doorposts of our house and on our gates.[3] But we had the Word of God
hanging somewhere on our walls, on refrigerator magnets, or notecards tacked to
our mirror. In this, we honored the LORD and helped our children.
As parents, our objective was to raise our
children to be successful in life, good citizens, and to know Jesus personally.
Some developed all three, and some only one or two because, unfortunately, they
turned to their own desires and went their own way.
So, to our knees, we
go.
Heavenly Father, I lift Moms to You. Some were joyful on Mother’s Day,
and some had wounded hearts. I ask, O LORD, for You to wrap us in the warm
blanket of Your peace. Help us to see Your hand at work in all our children’s
lives. LORD God, we lay them at Your feet and ask for You to protect them.
Remove them from the clutches of the evil one, who is out to destroy families.
Give to each of our children, whether believers or not, eyes to see Jesus high
and lifted up. As we give You glory, O LORD, help our children to fall to their
knees and do the same. Holy God, hold them tight and provide Your wisdom for
life and parenting. Search for and find our lost lambs, and bring them back,
first to You and then to us. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
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