Mom with great-grandchildren

I remember several times as a child when I wanted to trade my mom in for a new one. But over the years, I have come to value my mom and the tough love she showed me at times when I needed it most. I wouldn’t trade her for any other mom in the world today.

This weekend we honor our mothers on Mother’s Day. (We should be honoring them every day of the year, but this is the day set aside on the calendar to honor them.) Sadly, my 98-year-old mom won’t know it’s Mother’s Day this year. I can hand her a card, but she won’t know what it’s about. But I still want to honor her.

I thank God for my mom. She allowed me to pursue what God was leading me to do when she would have preferred a different direction. She wanted me to work as a medical technologist after college. Instead, I chose to go on staff with Campus Crusade and raise support. She wanted me to stay in the US, but I felt led by God to serve in East Asia for four years. Mom became my biggest cheerleader, after the initial response of, “You’re doing what???”.

She has always been there for me – helping me move from city to city; cat-sitting; storing my “stuff” in her home so my house wouldn’t be cluttered; loving me when I wasn’t very lovable. It is easy for me to honor her because of the mom she is.

But I realize some of you reading this are not looking forward to Mother’s Day. Perhaps you have recently lost your mom and she is not here this year to celebrate and honor. You may not have a good relationship with your mom, or she has not been there for you or has hurt you deeply. God is sovereign over the families He placed us in. It’s not always easy to understand why, but one day He will show us His purpose in it.

Sometimes, as a single with no children, Mother’s Day can feel awkward for me. Mothers are honored, and I feel as if I am on the outside of an “elite group.” But, God reminds me that even though I don’t have physical children, I have spiritual children. Even though I haven’t gone through physical childbirth, I have birthed “babies” into the Kingdom.

I am so grateful for two of my spiritual mothers, Bonnie James DeArmond and Joyce Bademan for discipling me as a junior in college. They made a difference in my life, a difference of eternal significance as they nurtured me in my faith. Paul referred to that aspect of discipleship in 1 Thessalonians 2:7: “But we proved to be gentle among you, as a nursing mother tenderly cares for her own children.”

• Take some time today to thank God for your mother, even if it’s not easy. He chose her to be your mom. Even though there were times I would have traded my mom in as a child, I thank God every day that He gave her to me as my mother.
• Take some time to thank God for those women who have built into your life spiritually and have helped you grow to become more like Christ.

To all you moms out there (physical and spiritual), Happy Mother’s Day!