Today on Mother’s Day we celebrate motherhood and what that embodies, starting with Mary. Even though not everyone had an ideal mother or father, on Mother’s Day we look at celebrating the traits of Godly motherhood.
In Luke 1 it tells of what Mary and Joseph endured and what you can learn from their perseverance. Mary was so poised and ready to receive whatever came her way, as long as it was God’s will. She said, “Be it done to me according to your word.”
Even in a situation where the man she loved could leave her and no one else would want her, and she could be seen as an adulteress – she had faith in God. Despite her being very young by today’s standards, she trusted Him and she took it all on joyously.
Mary was living out those strong traits of a mother. She was in that place of acceptance and intense faith. She made the decision to see it through to be the best mother she could be in her house at that time.
Just like a strong mother in present day, she took on the role to nurture, to get things done, and to be a loving figure for her family. She had faith that God would do something beyond just what she could see. But, it was not a blind faith, but an enduring peace rooted in God, knowing He would work His will through her and she trusted Him. Because of this, her faith was contagious.
When you see the intensity of a mother, like Mary, facing many challenges, like raising children, and running a household, pushing through it all – and doing it with faith and love – that inspires others.
That loving nature, nurturing presence, and perseverant spirit is the kind of woman whose faith is contagious to her children, her husband, and others around her. That is true motherhood.
Mother’s are undeniably special.
Some 2000 years ago, when I was born, there were many things that could make an already rather tough existence even tougher on a person. For instance, life could be tougher on you if you were young, or if you were a woman, or if you lacked wealth.
My mother, Mary, was all three of these things – young, female and poor. But what the world at the time might have seen as possible weaknesses, God the Father saw as wonderful strengths.
You see, to God, someone young, like Mary, meant that person had not yet been jaded or made cynical and God could use that abundance of trust for something big.
To God, someone poor, like Mary, meant that person is not distracted by the accumulation of worldly goods that can often fix one’s gaze solely on the world and get in the way of God’s greater purpose.
And finally, to God, being female meant Mary had the unique gift to carry human life in her womb and the strong nurturing and protective nature one must have to raise a little life, equipping them to battle the “slings and arrows” that come with growing up human on this earth.
These strengths made Mary the choice by God for a most special calling – the calling of motherhood and, the even greater calling of being the mother of me, the King of Kings – Jesus the Messiah.
This glorious honor came with a lifetime of trials beginning with the appearance of adultery during the time of her engagement to my foster father, Joseph, to her watching me, her beloved son, publicly tortured and killed.
My mother, Mary, continues to serve as the ultimate example of a loving mother, unwavering in her devotion to God and unwavering in her devotion to motherhood.
It says in Luke 1:30 that the angel, sent by God, told Mary that she was favored by God. One might think being favored by God means being free from trials, living on easy street. This was not the case with my mother Mary, nor is it the case with any mother.
Being called to motherhood doesn’t mean God will keep you from the hardships of life, it means God trusts that you can handle the bumps in the road, both big and small with wisdom and dignity.
There are many wonderful callings in this life that will require hours of your time and stretch your physical abilities leaving you exhausted at the end of the day. However, the rewards and exhaustion of motherhood are 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
A true mother doesn’t just teach lessens to her children, she lives them in a way that inspires not only her children but other children and other parents.
The acts of my mother, Mary are still valued and taught today reminding mothers all over the world to be strong in the face of adversity, not take the easy way out and to grow and be flexible with the changing needs of your children.
Romans 12:1 calls on Christians to be a “living sacrifice” and few lives are as great an example of that than that of a good mother.
Does this mean that all women called to motherhood rise to the calling? Sadly, no. There are those that neglect their children and the calling of motherhood sending their children searching for guidance on their own.
Unfortunately, there are bad parents; you yourself might have had a mother who did not live up to her calling of motherhood. You need to know that God is the ultimate parent and he will never leave you or forsake you.
Psalms 27:10
For my father and my mother have forsaken me,
But the LORD will take me up.