Mother's Day-my thoughts exactly

[Stacey Gross]

I ran across this blog and thought I couldn't have said it better myself...

The real Mother's Day is yet to come

by Barbara Rainey

My first memories of Mother's Day are sitting in church as a child as the
minister recognized all the mothers. I remember them standing in
recognition of their day. I also remember them all wearing a corsage.
The ones whose mother's were no longer living always wore white flowers
and the mostly younger moms wore a red or pink corsage. It was a tradition
in that generation and somehow the men knew it was part of their jobs to
provide the corsage for Mother's Day Sunday.

By the time I became a mother corsages had vanished, but recognition in
church on Sunday morning remained. In the early years of my mom years, I
felt funny standing in church as if that role still belonged only to my
mother and not to me. But by the time I had three or four kids I was
firmly convinced of my new identity. As my daughter Ashley said during
her fourth pregnancy, "I don't know what happened to the old Ashley. She
got lost somewhere along the way." Mother was indelibly who I was and the
vestiges of the old me were now to be found only in photo albums.

Honestly, Mother's Day was usually a disappointment to me. The inherent
promise and expectation in a day set aside to honor mothers was never met.
It's not that my husband didn't try. He always bought me something,
usually it was a rose bush or another plant for the yard which he knew I
liked. And my kids always made me a sweet card or a crayoned picture in
Sunday school. They all said "happy Mother's Day" and gave me kisses and
hugs. But then everyone needed lunch and naps and there were squabbles to
resolve and needs to be met.

The kind of honor I longed for and needed in those harried years of
selfless, endless labor was not to be found on the second Sunday in May.
Not that I'm against a day to honor mothers. Hardly. But really being
appreciated for the enormity of service to your children is not possible
from children. What I wanted was a day free from sibling rivalry and a
simple, genuine, "Thanks, Mom" that was unprompted by my husband or the
Sunday school teacher. In hindsight I now understand what I longed for is
only possible when your children become adults and then parents. Then
they begin to "get it"!

You see, mothering is a ministry to the future. It's a very private,
unseen ministry. It's like a long-term 20-year investment in which you
cannot withdraw any of your money until the 20 years is up. You place
your bets and then wait to see the outcome many years ahead. In
mothering, there are moments of glory when you see hints that your
investment is paying off, but they are not permanent until the end.
Interestingly, it's only now that my children are grown that I really
appreciate my own mother. And even so, I really have no idea what
sacrifices and worries and suffering she endured for me and my brothers.
Only God knows and He is the One who will give the ultimate honor when He
says one day, "Well done, good and faithful servant."

Until that day, happy Mother's Day to all who are in the trenches of that
holy and mostly thankless job. May your focus be on the honor to come on
That Day and may you raise your children to walk closely with Jesus all
their days. And remember, as I so often forgot in the daily-ness of life,
that a mother's job is laborious not because it is minute, but because it
is gigantic. Mothering is the most important calling on a woman's life.
Mothers can indeed change the world.

[Lyn Lovstrom]

This is so true. I appreciate and thank my mom more now than ever before. I eagerly await the day when my daughters come to me to say Thank you. Mother's Day is just another day for our children. But that is ok, because I get my thanks with each bedtime hug and kiss. And one day I will get the Thank You.