The Love of a Mother

Mother’s Day. A bittersweet day for me. Bitter, because I am a childless mother. My son died three years ago this past Easter Sunday. He was my only child. Sweet, because I know he is in heaven and this gives me peace and hope. And sweet because my mother is still living and I have her to love and cherish.

It is only fitting that Mother’s Day falls directly after Easter. While reading the Scripture for Passion Week leading up to Easter, I once again became intensely grateful of God’s love for me. No one on earth can possibly love us as God love us. The only way I can even try to comprehend His love is by comparing it to a Mother’s love. How deeply a mother loves her children! We will go that extra mile, give our last ounce of energy, and sacrifice whatever we need, all for our children. Although we would do anything and everything we could for their well-being, we are simply not humanly capable of meeting every need and sometimes we mess up.  However, Jesus is able. Philippians 4:19 says, “And my God will meet ALL your needs according to his glorious riches in Christ Jesus.”

When Mary and Joseph took Jesus to the temple, they met Simeon who took Jesus into his arms and said to Mary, “This child is destined to cause the falling and rising of many in Israel, and to be a sign that will be spoken against, so that the thoughts of many hearts will be revealed. And a sword will pierce your own soul too.” God was preparing Mary for what was to come. As the child Jesus grew, Mary prepared him for life. She nurtured Him, loved Him, met His physical and spiritual needs as best she could and lived her life pleasing to God the Father.

Is that not what godly mothers do? We love our children so much that we want to do everything we can to bring them up right. This is how we prepare them for life. But have you ever considered this training is also preparing them for death? What better way to show love to our children than to love God, and teach them His ways? This is one of the greatest responsibilities given to parents. In Deuteronomy 6, it says to “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength.” To impress this on your children. To talk about God and His ways when you sit at home and when you walk along the road and when you lie down and when you get up. In other words,……..always.

In my book, “Peering Through A Mist, A mom’s journey in loss and God’s grace,” I talk of how seeing the movie, The Passion of the Christ, made me more aware and grateful of Christ’s love for me. Seeing that movie also brought out such compassion for Mary. She had to watch her son being tortured, beaten and spat upon and I wondered how she could ever bear seeing that. My compassion for Mary turned to empathy, when I suffered the loss of my own son. I had not watched the movie since my son’s death and hesitated to do so, but had an evening alone the week of Easter and chose to watch it again.

There is a scene in the movie where Jesus is carrying His cross and the crowds are pressing in. The disciple John takes Mary to where she can get close to her Son. Right before Jesus gets to the place where Mary is, she falls back and takes her eyes away, not knowing if she can bear the sight. While she is agonizing on this, Jesus comes in view and collapses under the weight of the cross. Mary’s mind goes back to a time when Jesus was a small boy. The scene is in slow motion. He is playing, when He falls and cries out. Mary stops everything to run after Him making sure He is not hurt. When she reaches Him, she takes Him in her arms and says, “I’m here, I’m here.” When her mind comes back to reality, she hears her adult Son fall and cry out. With passionate, powerful, motherly love she rushes to His side, wraps her arms around Him, and says, “I’m here, I’m here.”

What great love a mother has for her children! And yet to know our God loves us so much more!!

Everything I did as a mother to prepare my son for life mainly prepared him for death.

If you are a mother, will someday become a mother, or have a living mother, cherish that relationship. As my son’s life has shown, life is short. We do not know what tomorrow brings. How quickly the days fly away. Love like this is your last day.