MOTHERHOOD

"Be sure you know the condition of your flocks, give careful attention to your herd"
(Proverbs 27:23).

When we signed on for this blessing we were thinking small – really cute and small. We really didn’t grasp lifetime in our twenties. Nor did any of us intend to have problems. We were going to love our children and raise them in the Lord and enjoy a long and fruitful life. There’s the key – fruitful! Who knew that nuts were a fruit? And we, cool as we were, would turn into a nut case over clean hands & fingernails, brushed teeth, and toys & clothes picked up. Who knew we would absolutely insist that our sons would use soap AND WATER for their showers and that our daughters would limit their showers to 5 minutes. Paleeze! How could anyone predict that? When we held our little bundles of joy in our arms for the first time how could we imagine turning over the keys to the car? Or what we were going to do when they didn’t make curfew? We could never imagine our pride as we watched our child graduate from high school. Nor could we imagine the pain as we drove them off to college. Or the large departure of funds! Oh my!

Many of us expected to live that perfect timeline of life events adding marriages, grandchildren and family gatherings. What none of us could anticipate were the devastating life events that some families go through in this lifetime and how we as mothers would feel that pain deep in the crevasses of our soul. The actual source of a devastating life events are as varied in number as the stars in the sky. What is constant is the pain in a mother’s heart. It’s not exactly a describable noun but a growing through experience.

A dear friend just experienced the loss of her 23 year old second born son. It was not just the unexpected death but the personal struggles he valiantly battled in his young life that broke this mother’s heart. I can only imagine the pain and I cry too but through life experiences I’ve learned that the loss of a child is not something you heal from. Through the grace of God the pain becomes less loud in your heart over time.

In my mind the loss of a child would be the most difficult and yes I would be comforted knowing my child was with Jesus. If I cut my finger nearly through but there was immediate medical help would that lessen the initial pain? No it would not but knowing Jesus, our immediate help, lessens the pain of the future. We can never measure someone else’s pain not even if we experience the exact same thing. Actually that is quite impossible since we are all individuals with different life prints. We can however carry one another’s burdens.

A pearl to string: God’s Word tell us in Galatians 6-2 to bear one another’s burdens (help each other along this life road) and in first Thessalonians 5:11 to continue to encourage one another and build each other up. We were created to need one another and not go through this life alone. John Milton said: Loneliness is the first thing which God's eye named not good.

Go love on someone who has suffered a loss in their life.
They need your sweetness and the fragrance of the Lord.
Lyndi