A Mother’s Day Moment

TAKING A HIKE

Was taking a hike today with a friend and came along two young moms with their 2 year old sons.  These sweet, innocent little boys bounded up to us and began to entertain us immediately.  One of the boys had to introduce us to his sister of 6 months who was strapped to his mother’s back carrier.  He was so proud of his sister.  The boys then promptly showed us their mini race cars.  My friend and I have grown children now, but in that instant we were transported back to those sweet days of playing on end on the floor with our babies.  Long afternoons that had no interruption of school schedules or even phones as they hadn’t yet invaded or robbed our time and space as yet.

THE GIFT OF A MOMENT IN TIME…

We began to talk to one another and share our experiences in child rearing.  We found ourselves so appreciative and honoring of each other’s seasons of life.  My hiking friend and I found ourselves encouraging and giving them what we might have done differently and what things we found to work for us.  We encouraged them to simply take the time to enjoy their kids. Time can be such a taskmaster!  That making conscious choices to put the technology of phones and ipads down can help us all reconnect.  To limit play-dates or extracurricular activities knowing our time at home is such a rare gem that often gets misplaced or even neglected.  We encouraged them to give themselves permission and the grace to let the dishes be dirty or the laundry to wait while they play with their little ones. This time truly is “invaluable”.  There is no value that can be put to it and it is more precious than we will ever know.   I briefly had thoughts of those precious last days with my own mom before she left for heaven’s door.  That time was so precious and more precious later than I had any idea at the time.

A GIFT OF LOVE

What a gift this was to us today as we come to celebrating Mother’s Day this weekend.  God delighted in that meeting and we were each one blessed by the conversation and the incredibly spontaneous meeting.  It was funny how they were commenting that one of the boys was having a bit of a struggle with his little being that day.  My friend and I had been feeling the same way.  As we watched his frustration cross his beautiful face and how he was struggling to deal with it we all laughed knowing we all share in these emotions and struggles no matter our age.  As he struggled his mother tried to help him through his struggle.  She was so tender and gentle and so loving it just made me realize just how sweet the Lord is with us when we are frustrated and struggling.  I’m so thankful for God never growing tired of us and our frustrations and that He has never ending patience and wisdom for us all everyday!

A NUGGET OF WISDOM

The other piece of wisdom we shared was to love their husbands and never stop dating them.  To try to get away alone with them as often as possible and to enjoy them completely because just like the children you only get one time around.  That that these moments in time come just once and then they are over not to return again.   Oh you might try to duplicate one of those really great moments but that moment never repeats itself again like the original.  These are God’s special gifts of grace, favor and blessing for us.

THE PRIVILEGE  

What an awesome privilege God has granted to women to be mothers and to assist in bringing new life into the world.  I remember recently seeing the moment on a sonogram when the sperm and the egg connect and the result is a burst of light!  Is that not just like God!  Light and life!  Nothing of life absolutely nothing is out of the touch or sight of God!  He is the source of all life!  And He decided that women were to be graced with the blessing of birthing new life on earth.

PROVERBS 31 WOMAN

At our church this week we studied the Proverbs 31 woman (Proverbs 31:10-31).  This is the woman we all love to hate because her description is a standard many of us know is excellent but seems completely unobtainable.  Our Pastor explained that the passage is actually a mother talking to her son and instructing him about the kinds of qualities he should take note of in a woman when he is choosing a wife.  Well, that changed the whole picture in my mind.  She was a woman just like you or me who was teaching and instructing her son and who wouldn’t want this woman to marry her son!

BEING MADE ONE

The mother tells her son (in my own paraphrasing) to look for a woman who will share his same values and beliefs so that she could help her husband to walk in all God has for him.  A woman he could trust to walk out his present and future plans of life.

Proverbs 31:11

 The heart of her husband safely trusts her; So he will have no lack of gain.

The wife then is secured under her husband’s umbrella of protection, provision, and loved in all God has planned for her. It is such a beautiful picture of Christ!  He is our Husband, Protector, Provider, Shield, Fortress, and in Him we have our very being.

Isaiah 54:5

For your Maker is your husband, The Lord of hosts is His name; And your Redeemer is the Holy One of Israel; He is called the God of the whole earth.

Psalm 18:2

THE Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer;  My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

It is in this covenant of marriage that God is in the midst being the mortar that binds it all together in His perfect love, making two, One, in Him!

Matthew 19:4-6 

 …He who made them at the beginning ‘made them male and female, and said, ‘for this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife, and the two shall become one flesh’?  So then, they are no longer two but one flesh.  Therefore what God has joined together, let not man separate.”

Ephesians 4:4 

 There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called in one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in you all. 

Philippians 2:13 

For it is God who works in you both to will and to do for His good pleasure.

And that last scripture is the glue of the Lord on the covenant.  The standard of the Proverbs 31 woman is a high standard of godly excellence that is only possible with the help of Jesus living on the inside of a believer.  If we had to do it in our own humanity it would be impossible but with God all things are possible.  The marriage covenant as we know in our modern day culture is under construction and under attack almost moment by moment.  Without the help of God marriage can also seem impossible on days.  Without the help of God child rearing would also be an overwhelming responsibility.  Thank God for God!

This new clarity brought my heart and soul and spirit such a lift that it was so easy to encourage our two new friends today.  Because it doesn’t depend on us but rather on God working it out in us while we cooperate with God’s leading thru His Holy Spirit ways.

HAPPY MOTHER’S DAY!

I want to wish you all a Happy Mother’s Day.  Enjoy your families and celebrate life!  I honor you all as God does in this role of Motherhood.  What a great privilege we women have been given by God for delivery and nurturing of life!  I honor the mom’s like my own that have come and gone before us!  What great legacy God has for us. Wrapping you up in the mighty arms of Jesus love! God Bless you all!

Deuteronomy 6:24-26

The Lord bless you and keep you

The Lord make His face shine upon you

And be gracious to you.

The Lord lift up His countenance upon you

And give you peace.

Here is a little Mother’s Day gift for you to enjoy:

http://www.christianpost.com/news/singer-nicole-nordemans-slow-down-song-perfectly-captures-moms-thoughts-in-time-for-mothers-day-163309/