Happy Mother’s Day

I have seen a lot of mothers in my lifetime.  Some, I just call birthers.  I call sacrificing and loving women, mothers.  Rather than talk about either, I would like to talk about the “mother desire” that God places in all of us.  No matter how bad your mother is, even if she’s an absent one, everyone desires a loving mother.  There is just something about what we want and need from a mother.

It seems that God made a special longing in us for mothers.  There is that longing to feel safe and attached to a mother.  There is nothing wrong when you’re being held close snuggling in a mother’s arms.  There is a need to feel secure and protected.  There is that sense that a mother is there to defend you so that no one can harm you or abandon you, and she provides a place to call home.   When you’re with her, you’re not scared, and your wounds heal much quicker.  She’s always on your side and your greatest protector.

What a giant, a great heroine, and yet, you feel the need to protect her, defend her, and help her.  You know when she is wrong, but inside you feel that she can do no wrong.  We would never challenge her when we were small, but struggle to free ourselves from that control as we grow older.  We need to exert our sense of autonomy but never disappoint her or make her cry.  Oh Lord, if we made her cry, may a thousand needles be stuck in us . . . even when we knew that she was just crying to manipulate us.  Where would we be if she had not fixed those mixed vegetables that our fathers forced us to eat. Oh, that onion soup she fixed, God forbid.

Let us not forget the many hours that she sat by our beds waiting for our temperature to drop or rubbing our legs to get the cramps out.  We came first.  She would deny herself for us.  I remember the last time my mother tried to spank me.  I was 16 and taller than her.  When she threatened me with the flyswatter, I ran and squeezed between two upright pieces of furniture.  She told me to get out of there, and I just reached up and grabbed her hand with the flyswatter and held it.  She looked at me and burst out laughing.  That day I became respected by her.

There are many more stories I could write about my mom, Bessie.  She was not perfect, but she was my mom.  I realize that you may have had a better or worse mom than mine.  That is not the point.  The point is, whatever that longing is for a mother, whatever that need for one is, the Holy Spirit will provide that in your life.  The Holy Spirit is the feminine member of the trinity: the comforter and guide to truth.  The Holy Spirit was with and within Jesus ever since the Baptism in the Jordan River.

Just pray, “Holy Spirit, be with me, be within me, fill me, and fill any void my mother did not.  Make me know that you love me more than a mother could.  I receive your love now and forever.  And, Lord, thank you for my mother.”

– Written by Pa

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Enjoy Jeremiah and Pa discuss appreciation for mothers and the different roles mothers and fathers have in our lives.

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(The picture is Grandma Bessie holding Christopher for the first time.)