STXWM Blog

There is an old Dr. Seuss book where a little bird is wandering around asking every different type of animal (most of which are not birds) if they are his mother.  As a child, I thought how silly and funny it was that he was asking dogs and elephants if they were his mother when they looked nothing like him.  As a mother, reading it gave me a little bit of sad anxiety as I waited page after page for this lost little one to find his mom even though I had read it before and knew he would find her in the end.

I remember getting lost as a child; the panic that would rise in my chest as I ran full sprint through a department store calling for my mom but unable to find her.  I remember how all of that terror and sadness would give way when I heard her call back and I knew that she was close.  I wouldn’t even mind the scolding I would get for wandering off because the relief of being near her again would be so complete.  There was safety and familiarity with her.

These days Mother’s Day holds a mixed blessing for me.  

As a mother, I have spent years opening the heartfelt presents of my children when they had nothing more to give me than their hugs and whatever they could come up with using the art supplies in the playroom.  I still have every painted rock and decorated cut-out of small handprints that they produced through those early years.  Now, as young adults I get gift baskets, dinners out, and coffee dates where they tell me all about what is going on in their lives away from my home.

But as a daughter, Mother’s Day is not a time of great celebration.  As a daughter, Mother’s Day is a painful reminder of what once was but is no more; or sometimes of what never has been.

We never stop needing our moms. One of the most difficult parts of being an adult (for me) has been navigating difficult times with a terrible longing to just go home, but knowing that the home of my longing is not there anymore because it wasn’t just a place; it was the people there that made it home for me. 

Whether you are grieving the loss of a mother that has passed on from this life, an estranged relationship, never having known your mother at all or watching her slip away as the woman you once knew is consumed by an illness-we can find ourselves searching in our own lives asking “Are you my mother?”

How thankful I am continually for the comfort I find in the Word of God.  In Psalm 34:18 the psalmist tells us that 

“The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.”  

And again in Psalm 147:3 we are reminded that

“He heals the brokenhearted and binds up their wounds.” 

God knows our needs, sees our searching, and He can provide “mothers” for us when we need them. 

No one can ever really replace the mother that you long for, but in the family of God we can find those women who are available, willing to offer the comfort, and Godly guidance that we lack. Much like the bird in the book, the willing mothers we find may look nothing like us, but they will bear a remarkable family resemblance in other ways. They will love with the love of Christ as our mentors, friends and protectors as they journey with us through life. 

In the book of Ruth, God provided redemption and provision for Ruth, not just financially, but He also welcomed her into a new family; a place of belonging with the people of God.  He gave her a mother figure in Naomi and gave Ruth to Naomi as a daughter.  

For your broken heart, God has healing and for the hole that has been left in your life by the absence of your mother; He has provision for that as well. In the body of Christ, we are the hands and feet of Jesus to the lost; but also to each other as we travel in this world toward home. God said, “He would go with us”, but He also said, “we would have a family in those of like precious faith.” 

In Mark chapter 3 Jesus said:

³³ “Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?” ³⁴ Then he looked at those around him and said, “Look, these are my mother and brothers. ³⁵ Anyone who does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother.”

Jesus directs us to the family of God to find those with whom we can walk through life, even as some of us pray for our mothers to become one of those family members. God does not call for us to forget the mothers that we miss, but rather to build on the lessons they taught us by continuing to grow and by passing on their legacies to others, taking them under our wings as daughters-ourselves becoming mothers to a new generation of Godly women.

God,

In the month of May, I know You see some of our hearts breaking.  I know that our broken hearts move You with compassion and that You desire for our healing and wholeness.  As we grieve, call to our memories and give us strength in the retelling of happy histories with our moms.  Remind us of the lessons she taught us and help us learn to love the likeness of her in our own faces as we get older for You are the God that honors our histories even as You write a new story for our future.  

Guide us to women in Your family that would come alongside us to fill the void that we sometimes feel needing a mother and help us to become those women to others in need.  Make us into the women who will bear a resemblance to Christ as we “mother” the next generation of Your daughters.

We look forward to the day when we can all gather around Your throne and worship together; mothers and daughters of every season-healed and made whole in You.

In the mighty name of Jesus,

Amen

by Stephanie S.