A Mother Deserving of Praise

Yesterday was Mother’s Day, and I have been very blessed from both directions in this department. Not only do I have the worlds best, smartest, and most beautiful children that ever lived, and I’m going to be a Grandma soon, but I come from a long line of strong, Godly women. Grandmothers, aunts, cousins, and my sister are all women who have faced life with strength and laughter and have overcome polio, military husbands who moved them around a lot, loss of children, and heartbreak beyond what I can imagine. My mother is a prime example of strength and grace, and I am blessed to have her in my life. I’ve used the word blessed a lot in this paragraph, but I can’t come up with any word that is more fitting.

Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting;
 but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

Proverbs 31:30

Not all of you have been so fortunate, and in truth, none of the women in my life have been perfect. With strength comes a bit of stubbornness, and we’ve had our struggles. Some of you have done more than struggle. Some of you were abandoned, or were harmed in unspeakable ways by the women who should have protected and nurtured you. Some of you have lost children, and your arms feel very empty. Mother’s Day is a painful reminder of what others have that you don’t. It feels very unfair. To make things worse, maybe you don’t feel like you know how to be a good mother yourself. Perhaps you aborted or abandoned your baby, and you suffer from the pain and guilt that accompanies that.

We know that God is our perfect father. Jesus called him Daddy, Abba, and his paternal love is well documented throughout scripture. Sometimes we forget that God is also our perfect mother. God is spirit, and gender is a physical attribute. As humans, we were created in the image of God, male and female, and so it follows that God is both father and mother.

For this is what the Lord says:  “I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream;
you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem.” When you see this, your heart will rejoice and you will flourish like grass… Isaiah 66:12-14

God is the mother you should have had. God is the only perfect mother. He is there, waiting to lift you onto his lap, to snuggle you, to comfort you, to love you as only he can do. He is your perfect mother, and is the perfect example of the mother I want to be. He loves us perfectly, and expresses that love in ways that are good for us, that encourage our growth and that help us be all that he wants us to be. He helps us flourish like healthy grass.

Bring your hurts, your disappointments and your fears to God. Let him kiss your pain and make it better. Let him mother you, as only he can. Rest in his forgiveness, and accept his peace and comfort. Rejoice in him today.