Mother's Day Musings Revisited, It's not Hallmark, but it is what it is, for many

Mother's Day Musings Revisited: "The decision to have a child is to accept that your heart will forever walk outside of your body." Katherine Hadley

Sunday a day to praise the Lord. I was reminded by a devo written by Joyce Meyer that intercession is one of the best gifts that can be given to someone, when we intercede we are not thinking of ourselves but of others. I woke up with several special people on my heart; some in the hospital, some alone, some grieving a loss today. I prayed for them. Many will celebrate Mother's day, many will be unable to celebrate and for those we pray that the Lord will minister to them today. He is available 24/7. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hzYKovRsJ8

Psalm 31:3-4 "For Thou art my rock and my fortress; for Thy name's sake Thou wilt lead me and guide me... Thou art my strength."

I gave myself a gift of rereading a Mother's Day poem along with my devotion time called Solo Dance. It is by my friend, and fellow word Weaver, Patricia Keough-Wilson. It is an awesome piece of work about something some of us know, called the mother/daughter dance.

I think it was Joyce Meyers who said, "When I knew better, I did better." I am grateful to the Lord that I have learned and am still learning how to parent in different ways than I did when I was a teenage mother. By God's grace and forgiveness I am a different woman than when I started out and He gets the credit for it. But if I could turn the clock back and do it over with no mistakes or pain to loved ones, you can bet I would. I would love to be able to have a do-over in the mothering department. There is a quote in the book, "Her Daughter's Dream" by Francine Rivers that sums up, I think, how many mothers feel. "I love every one of my children and I did the best I knew in raising them. I just wasn't always the mother they wanted."

We claim Romans 8:28 and know that God will use the pain and upheavals of life to bring about the destiny of our children. As mothers it is hard to watch and at  times and even harder to endure when we want to jump in and take that pain for them. But we must leave our children, grandchildren and problems in the hands of the One who created them for His purpose and glory.

He will bring to life that which was dead and barren. Only the Lord can mend the broken, take pieces of clay and make beautiful vessels of His glory. Sometimes life seems more than we can endure, but we must press on, for His glory and purpose.

"Now therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning (my paraphrase) your family: "Behold, I will gather them out of all the lands to which I have driven them in My anger, in My wrath and in great indignation; and I will bring them back to this place and make them dwell in safety. "They shall be My people, and I will be their God; and I will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear Me always, for their own good and for the good of their children after them. I will make an everlasting covenant with them that I will not turn away from them, to do them good; and I will put the fear of Me in their hearts so that they will not turn away from Me. "I will rejoice over them to do them good and will faithfully plant them in this land with all My heart and with all My soul. Jeremiah 32:17, 36-41 Amp.

“All your children will be taught by the Lord. And they will have much peace”

(Isaiah 54:13, International Children’s Bible)

An interesting bit of Mother's Day trivia:

Anna Jarvis, the woman whose efforts resulted in Mother's Day becoming a national holiday in 1914, filed a lawsuit to stop a Mother's Day festival in 1923 because she was so troubled that the day had become commercialized. "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit," she protested. The commercialization so disturbed her that she said she was sorry she had worked to establish the holiday, and she spent all of her inheritance trying to return Mother's Day to the simple, loving time she had intended.

I can understand her becoming disheartened. May the Lord bring back the simplicity of just spending time together or thinking about happy memories of previous days, for those who are sad.