At last, Mother’s Day is approaching! What other time of the year can mom sit back on a Sunday afternoon while dad and the kids pamper her silly, cooking and cleaning up after the family dinner meal? What other time of year can mom splurge a bit on herself, adding to her collection the latest “appreciation gift” handed out Sunday morning. (Last year it was a new whisk filled with chocolate!)
Mother’s Day is a time for us to express our love and appreciation to the woman who birthed us into the world. It’s a time to celebrate all that is beautiful and mysterious about motherhood, and a time to honor and show respect and admiration to the one who changed our dirty diapers, washed our faces with “mom cleaner” (aka, her spit), and to the one who stands beside us through thick and thin.
In my own life, I take joy in honoring and lavishing appreciation on my mother and grandmothers; including the ones I’ve inherited through marriage. As a young woman approaching her 30th birthday this year, and as someone who has yet to join the notorious “mommy club”, I believe one of the greatest arenas of forgotten motherhood can often times be that of spiritual motherhood. Spiritual mothers are the women who often go unnoticed and unidentified by those around us. Most recently one of my own spiritual mothers and I shared words concerning the dream we both have to unite spiritual mothers and daughters right here in our district. It’s our passion and relentless burden to stand betwixt generations of women, connecting the elder generation of women and this younger of girls coming of age into the Kingdom of God.
Just this afternoon, before sitting down to pen my thoughts on the subject of what it means to be defined as a mother, I had the privilege of connecting with a mighty woman of God, pastoring one of our local churches here in Indiana. She’s a simple, humble woman, who truly exemplifies what it means to be hidden behind the cross. She defines what it means to be both an earthly and spiritual mother. As she shared her story and words of wisdom from her life in ministry over the past 30 plus years, the Holy Spirit quickened within my spirit that these are the moments that will define me as a spiritual daughter.
A spiritual daughter is teachable. She is meek, and gentle. She listens before speaking, and has open ears and receptive heart yearning to glean from the mothers in her life. She may not share the same sense of style as her mother, but she shares the same heart; a heart to worship and serve our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. She may not share the same taste in music, décor, or even cooking, but she shares the same spirit in Christ Jesus.
I soak in a fresh perspective today on the scripture found in Titus chapter 2. “Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind…”
I am deeply grateful for the mothers in my life. I am grateful that I have opportunity to glean from the wisdom of these women of God. I am grateful that I have mothers who not only celebrate the life God has given me, rejoicing with me in victories, and weeping with me in sorrows, but for the mothers who provide instruction and discipline in my life. Those who serve to be a vessel that God uses to sharpen me, perfect me, and make me into the woman He desires to work through.
So this Mother’s Day, while all the mommies in the world are celebrated, take the time to pour out encouragement and appreciation to your spiritual mothers. Perhaps you are not certain who these women might be in your life. God will show you. In His time He will reveal her to you, and lead her into your life. On Mother’s Day celebrate not only your early mothers, but the women who have paved the way in the Kingdom, the women who “train up” this generation of young girls to be mighty warriors in the Kingdom; empowered women in Christ.
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