We went away this weekend, to see our future daughter-in-law graduate from college, and to get away for a few days. We drove to Holland, Michigan, to see the tulip festival, but unfortunately, it was cold and rainy and we didn’t have much time to enjoy it. But the graduation was good, until I fell coming down the bleacher steps and smacked both shins on one step. I am very grateful for hard bones, as nothing broke – I’m just nicely bruised. I ache today on Mother’s Day, but I am sure my aches are nothing compared to other moms who are grieving. I thought of Kay Warren this morning, who so recently lost her son. I think of Vicki at my church who also lost her son a few weeks ago. Both young men were much too young to go home to heaven. And I imagine both moms don’t much feel like thinking about Mother’s Day.
I remember a cousin who lost a daughter in a car accident at 17, and another cousin who lost a daughter at birth. Of Mary Beth Chapman who lost their little girl not so many years ago. Of friends who have miscarried or suffered with infertility and would give anything to be a mom but can’t.
And then there are moms whose kids are far away, who cannot give their mom the hugs they long for. Or kids whose moms have passed on and aren’t there to call or hold close to their hearts.
The pain of broken relationships probably hurts on these kinds of holidays more than anything. Will she call? Will he break his silence? For those moms every day is an eternity of waiting. Like the father of the prodigal son praying, “Please come home.” And time marches on and moms don’t get any younger. Broken relationships should be mended if they can be, before it is too late.
I am so grateful to still have my mom to talk to, to see, to hold close to me. To hear her call me “beautiful lady” when she hears my voice on the other end of the phone. She’s almost 90 now, and I know we won’t have her on earth forever. But I’m glad we have her now.
And as a mom, I am so grateful when the phone rings and it’s one of my boys asking to FaceTime. To be remembered, to be given a slice of their time and the touch of their voices and when I do see them, their physical hug, is better than any other gift a mom could receive. Our time here is so short. I’ve never been one to take these things for granted.
I also would be remiss if I did not ask the Lord to comfort those whose Mother’s Day is not going to be what they had hoped, what they long for. For those whose children cannot call them, like Kay Warren and Mary Beth Chapman and Vicki and so many more.
If you are one of those moms who is hurting, may God hold you close. May you feel how much He loves you, and that He alone can and will heal the broken things. Someday He will make all things new. I pray you will cling to that hope, and that you will soon see the joy that awaits you in the future.
May God grant us all grace to not take one single breath for granted. Or to let another day slip by without telling those closest to us just how much we love them.
Selah~
