Mother’s Day Reflections
Mother’s Day is always a time for celebration around our house, but it also brings out a very introspective side of me. I want to stay present in the moment and enjoy every minute with my family, but I also try to take time to pull back and reflect on my larger motherhood journey.
This year God drew my mind (and my heart) to a number of parallels between my motherhood experiences and my relationship with Him. Specifically, He reminded me:
- Just as I delight in spending time with my children, He delights in spending time with me.
- Just as I set boundaries for my children because I love them and want to keep them safe, He also sets boundaries for me out of love, not to withhold blessings from me.
- Just as I grieve when I see my children making unwise choices, He also grieves when I make choices that are not in my best interest.
- Just as I celebrate my children’s accomplishments, He delights in my victories.
- Just as my heart breaks when my children are unkind to one another, His hearts breaks when I am unkind to my brothers and sisters in Christ.
- Just as I would be willing to take on all of my children’s pain so they wouldn’t have to endure hardship, He has already demonstrated His willingness to love sacrificially when He sent His own Son to die on the cross in my place.
God’s Love
As I reflected on these parallels, I camped out a while on how my love for my children compares to God’s love for me. I thought about how special the love I have for my children is. It’s:
- unconditional
- fierce
- nurturing
- forgiving
- protective
- unrelenting
The list goes on and on, but here’s the big truth I took away and that I hope to convey to you. As amazing and all-encompassing as I think my love for my children is, it’s nothing compared to the love my Heavenly Father has for me. Never forget that He loves you in a way that you will never truly be able to wrap your head around. Take all of the wonderful feelings you have for your children, and let the fact that He feels the same for you on an incomprehensible level permeate your very being. Never forget that you are fiercely loved by your Heavenly Father, precious mom. No one can ever take that away from you.
My Mother’s Day Prayer for You
As Mother’s Day draws to a close, I want to offer this Scripture passage in the form of a prayer for you because it does an excellent job of describing the incredible love that your Heavenly Father has for you.
For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth derives its name.
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith.
And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.
Ephesians 3:14-21