Mother’s Day is just around the corner, and with it another opportunity to honor and celebrate the mothers in our lives (or to be honored and celebrated, as the case may be). So much of mothering goes unnoticed and unappreciated, and a single holiday is wholly inadequate to right that wrong, but any opportunity to collectively praise and thank the mothers around us is valuable nonetheless.
It is no small tragedy, then, to hear of mothers who dread Mother’s Day. The reasons are varied, but often it is because the day serves as a painful reminder of perceived inadequacies and shortcomings. The attention is unwelcomed because it feels undeserved, as one might feel receiving an award that wasn’t earned.
As to my strength, I am weak
Obviously, one’s affection for Mother’s Day is neither here nor there. But persistent feelings of inadequacy - of not measuring up in one way or another - is something we all need to keep in check. This is especially true for mothers, who seem to have a special gift for performing miracles and then criticizing their performance!
Our tendency to dwell on our inadequacies and weaknesses is understandable; we are in fact weak and inadequate, feeble and imperfect. Our awareness of this reality helps us to be humble and to turn to God.
Be of good cheer
While self-awareness and humility are important, God does not want us to go through life discouraged and disheartened! He is a God of hope and peace, of courage and strength, of power and deliverance, and he is anxious to bless us with these gifts.
The passages below make this abundantly clear, and are only a small taste of His love and generosity. Hopefully one of them speaks to you the next time you have a hard time seeing past your shortcomings. Especially around Mother’s Day :)