Here's to You, Moms
Happy Mother’s Day!
This is the single week of the year in which we celebrate the calling and the cause of motherhood.
We salute all types of moms this week … biological moms, adoptive moms, foster moms, grandmoms and empty nest moms.
We take the time to pray for moms whose children are dealing with serious illnesses and those who have sent their little ones to heaven much too soon.
Our hearts go out - especially this week - in compassion and sensitivity to those women who are not moms yet, but who ache to be moms.
We remember the moms who have no relationship with their grown children or grandchildren and we cry with them.
No matter what season of life you are in … regardless of how the call to motherhood has wearied your soul … no matter who empty your arms and heart may feel today … I think that you would agree with me that all mothers deserve celebration.
And so, in honor of mothers this week, I am sharing with you an excerpt from my book, “Pass the Joy, Please!” I believe that in some miraculous way – it was the book that I was born to write.
The subtitle of this devotional is, “Passing the Joy of Motherhood from Generation to Generation!”
I believe that part of my life’s call is to remind moms of the enormity of their call and the joy that it delivers.
So … from my heart to yours … Happy Mother’s Day, y’all!
Motherhood is not for the faint of heart!
Motherhood presents the challenge of a lifetime, it heralds the call to be uncommon in common surroundings and it exacts an exorbitant price from a woman.
I can assure you without wavering and with no apology that being a mom will be the most daunting test of your entire life.
If you were to be the first woman president of the United States of America, it wouldn’t hold the challenge or significance that raising a child for the cause of Christ entails.
If you were to write numerous best-selling books that sold for millions of dollars, it is just a pittance compared to having an impact on one child’s life.
If you were to be an entertainer that thousands flocked to hear on stages from Los Angeles to London to New York City, it wouldn’t mean as much as singing a simply lullaby to an infant child in your lap.
If you were a world-famous doctor who was renowned for intricate, exacting surgeries and for brilliant scientific discoveries, it would pale in comparison to putting a little band-aid on a tiny finger and consoling the miniature person who depends on you for daily care and consolation.
God has placed you in a situation where every ounce of creative, spiritual, mental and emotional energy is being squeezed out of you every day from dawn to dark.
This is the season in life when you need Him most.
It is during the years of hands-on motherhood when you will die to self as never before. It is also the season of life in which you will realize a delight and a fulfillment that you have never before experienced nor will you ever experience this particular delight and fulfillment again.
The only way you will make it through this monumental test of motherhood is to discover the joy!
You are the chief joy- bringer to your child’s life so stir up the joy in you!
If joy is not abundant in you, it will not be abundant in the home.
If joy is scarce in you, it will be scarce in the home. Take some time today to cultivate deep joy in your heart, and as you do, you will find yourself discovering a strength that you never before knew.
This is my prayer for you today,
“Father, I pray for every mother reading these words today that you will help her be a woman of excellence in the home. I pray that she will be filled to overflowing with the fruits of your delicious Holy Spirit and that she would learn to rely on You for strength. I pray that, like the Proverbs 31 woman, the teaching of kindness will always be on her tongue. And, I pray that, like Jesus, she will go about doing good in all the ways she can ... to all the people she can ... as long as ever she can. In Jesus’ Name I pray. Amen.”