For those who are discouraged by Mother's Day, let me say I've been there so many times I can't count. Not this year, though. It was quite pleasant despite having only half my children here and knowing that my dear friend Sandy Barranco was sharing the date of May 11th as the second anniversary of her son Tim's death.
I'm sort of glad our pastors don't preach Mother's Day "sermons" any more. They backfired on me as tools of encouragement. No matter how hard I tried to glean the best of the message, I would walk away feeling like I was far from the Proverbs 31 woman, or the gal in Luke 2 who pondered all these things in her heart. (I tend to ponder out the mouth and get in trouble).
I'm sure an unhealthy dose of self-pity, coupled with Satan's relentless accusations did nothing to help matters.
Anyway, how WAS your M Day?
11 comments:
Mine was great!
I actually didn't have a bad day. I worked with new mommy's all day, always an adventure that! When I arrived home 8ish that night, Dinner was ready and FLOWERS were there for me. yay flowers. i even had a gourmet treat made by Tommy .. chocolate covered goldfish. While I won't be added that in to my "standby recipes", the look of sweetness and love in his eyes made them more palatable. ;)
Minw was bittersweet as always. Especially since this is the first one without Mike's mom. This was the first year I had no mom to buy a card for. That is really a wierd feeling. My children are always very generous and loving to me on Mother's Day. Plus they know how much I miss Scott on these "Hallmark" holidays. Nick and KT got me tickets to Sight and Sound for all 4 of us plus dinner the night/day we decide to go. That was very sweet of them. I got flowers and beautiful cards from them. Plus I had just gotten home from a week in OC. So all in all it was a wonderfully blessed day.
I wasn't able to make it to our church service...sick on the couch. I told Pete that what he's been doing for me these last two weeks (and probably for 2 more weeks) can count for Mother's Day...a card or gift would pale in comparison. (Check out my recent post.)
aww, mine was a really good day thank you for asking. I'm glad to hear that yours was.
For the above anonymous commenter: Proverbs 31, Titus 2 and the Luke chapter that were mentioned are continually harped on. I understand why we preach about it, of course, because it's part of the Bible. What I think is that too much emphasis is put on such a small part because it mentions women. These were not Jesus' commandments they are just verses. Sure, verses to give you direction but certainly NO rules! There is not one person living up to those standards. I think women need to hear more "meat" in sermons when it comes to our lives and I would prefer we talk about loving our Lord and loving others while deepening our relationship with Him. Once we get that right, everything else falls into place and we don't need: a modesty checklist, a household chore Bible, a certain timed devotional every morning, children training manuals and a lesson on "do anything to make your husband happy". I hope you understand where I'm going with this. I think we miss the mark a lot of times and we need to focus on our Lord and Savior. Doing this brings Joy to Him and in turn, a life worthy of living in His eyes.
We had a birthday party the Sunday before for our 60 year old daughter who looks 30. Most of our family were here for that.
That means another daughter, 62 years old next month, had us for dinner, and some of her children.
So many in our children are mothers themselves so that is a joy to us.
It was also the birthday for our 51 year old son, so he stayed home with his own.
And it was also Mother's Day, 1935, that my mother was buried, so long ago.
I was given lots of flowers and cards. I only wish I could live up to the nice things on the cards. Still I love to read and reread them.
So, many blessings came my way, God keeps them coming and coming, and I can only thank Him and remember He is the One Who blesses.
Betty G
I find all the talk of hurtful mother's day church services very interesting. We have either not had a sermon about mom's at all, or focused on the value of spiritual mothering. There are SOOO many ways that mother's day can be hurtful, not only for mothers, but for those who are grieving that they are not. Pastors really need to be more sensitive to this... While I'm all for honoring moms (as I AM one!!) I want the honoring to come from my family. It's not necessarily a church responsibility. We did play a very short FUNNY clip about mother's day (along the lines of a clip from 'The Office', which got laughs from moms and non-mom's alike.) We need to learn to be sensitive, and for pete's sake, keep scripture in it's context when preaching on it!!
Just realized I should clarify my comment above...I should say that in an effort to be sensitive, we have chosen to go the route of no "mother's day sermon" or else just focus on spiritual mothering.
I agree about with Beth about having more "meat" in messages directed toward women, hence I've been listening to Nancy Leigh DeMoss podcasts almost everyday! I'm constantly amazed at what she gleans from scripture to relate to our everyday life! Recently, her messages on Abagail were amazing! Now she's doing a study of Rahab. I also love that she really preaches from the whole context of scripture, including the Old Testament.
At the request of Anonymous, I deleted her comment. We've all experienced a less-than-edifying Mother's Day sermon.
Looks like this is an emotionally charged topic! I wish I had time to address what each of you said. Thanks for taking time and for being vulerable.
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