Pastor Lee
May 6, 2022
Thoughts About Mother's Day
Erik and Stacy were new to our community and our church. The young couple had moved to Saluda, South Carolina, from California and were just beginning their family in 1994. A few months after their arrival, Stacy was expecting their first child. Very soon she and Erik would be first-time parents. However, things would not turn out as they were expecting as their baby only lived a few hours following her birth. They, of course, were heartbroken over the death of their child. One of the things they shared with me as their pastor was not only their sorrow and grief, but a couple of weeks after the death of their child Stacy gave me a little paperback book. It was a book on healing and hope for parents who have lost children through miscarriages, stillbirths, abortions, and early infant deaths. In presenting the book to me she told me that she had found this book comforting and wanted me to have a copy to share with any other mother who ever loses a child in the future. Recently the book came to mind as I was thinking about Mother’s Day. I found the book on my bookshelf and pulled it out just before I began typing this piece for the newsletter. I share this with you because as Mother’s Day approaches, I wonder if we ever take the time to stop and think about all the heartache our mothers (mother figures) have experienced. I do not pretend to know nor understand the grief that comes from losing a baby or infant to death. I do know that nothing can hurt so deeply as the death of one’s own child, but what about all the other ways our mothers have grieved over us and the things we’ve done? I can remember hearing someone say years ago about children, “when they’re little they step on your toes and when they’re older they step on your heart.” Yet, it seems that mothers never love us any less no matter how much we disappoint or grieve them than if we didn’t, nor do they love us anymore when we have accomplished something great than when we have failed. I know I’m generalizing here because not all mothers are like this as we live in a broken world. There are some (very few, however) who don’t fit the mold, but when you think about it a mother’s love is probably the closest thing we have to compare to God’s love for you and me. God loves us unconditionally and that is something we’ve heard so often that maybe we rarely think about it. Sort of like us, as children, who are prone to take our mother’s (mother figures’) love for granted. As Mother Day approaches, I hope and pray we will all remember the ways our moms (mother figures) have loved and sacrificed for us, and their love for us that never lessened de-spite our shortcomings, failures, and the ways we may have broken their hearts. If you know what I am talking about, please join me as we take time to thank God for our mothers (mother figures), and if possible, let your mother know how much you appreciate her sacrificial love for you.
Lee
