How was your Mother’s Day?
Was it all you dreamed it would be, surrounded by your children being showered with love, gifts and pampering? Or did disappointment fill your day instead, from being slighted, underappreciated, overlooked or forgotten? Were some missing due to estrangement, neglect, or health problems? Is there a lingering hole in your heart from the loss of a child? Or maybe you long to be a mother, but your arms still ache to hold a child.

Mother’s Day is different for each of us, but we all come to it with expectations, unrealistic ones. Deep in our hearts, there is an unspoken expectation of being treated the way we deserve to be. When it happens, all is good in the universe and the sky is filled with rainbows and unicorn glitter. If it doesn’t, discontent niggles its way into our soul. Our joy is diminished and a small black cloud drizzles bitterness over our thoughts.

“Why do I have to….?”

“Why don’t I get to….?”

“How come she has…?”

“I deserve better!”

And so on.
Life seems unfair, and where is God in it all? Why doesn’t He do something about it? Doesn’t He care?

But when we stop and sit quietly with God, He will answer us.

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you.

Jeremiah 29: 12 NIV

We don’t deserve anything. In the recesses of our hearts, we are sin-filled, self-serving rebels against God. Our truest desire is to BE God and rule our lives because we think we know better.
Yet, because of His beloved son Jesus Christ; His death and resurrection, we can be new creations. We have been given the best gift ever! A relationship with the Almighty LORD, as Father, Friend, and Counselor. Because of this relationship, I get to experience deep joy, beauty, hope, rest and love. The real deal!

We are to live expectantly in Him and His promises. But we are not to live expecting anything more than Him, because we don’t even deserve that. Anything more is simply wrapping paper and bows. He is sufficient and oh so much more! If He only gave us our lives, it would be enough, but He also gives us HIM! Our only job is to open the package and revel in it. And oh, what a revelation it is!
No Mother’s Day gift or experience can compare to knowing our Creator, the Lover of our very souls. Even the wonderful joy of motherhood.

I remember my first experience with being a mom. I had just given birth to my first, sweet, baby boy. He was perfect, and I remember being filled to overflowing with a sense of joy and newness I could barely contain. It was exhilarating! But that joy is very much different than the richness and depth of joy found in our Father God. It is only a dim reflection.

Sisters, if this Mother’s Day has been a blessing or another disappointment, take some time to sit quietly with your Dad and have a chat. He will love on you like no one else can. He will trade your expectations for His glory and overshadow them.

Be well!
Patricia