Happy Mother's Day

I’m a mama and I think of God as a parent often. Yesterday in a staff meeting, we were sharing about different songs we sing over our children to soothe boo-boos, to help them sleep, to help them feel loved. I think about how God sings songs over us. I think of Mary’s song while pregnant in Luke 1:46-55 and wonder if she sang that song over Jesus when he was little. I wonder what songs stayed with Him as He grew and went through hard things. 

 

In CoLaborers, we go through life together. We have rejoiced and mourned together. We have become mamas and ya-yas (grandmas) together. A lot of our staff calls include our children climbing on us, a mother nursing with her webcam pointed to the ceiling, international playdates when we are together, talking about budgets and potty training in the same breath.

 

Some of us are spiritual mothers to children in our programs who we have watched grow, who call us at odd hours when going through teenage challenges, who we rejoice to see graduate. My heart and mind are filled with stories about how God has used us as mamas. 

 

We have been the pregnant preachers, the safe place to come to, the ready smile and warm hug, the cup of tea while we talk about your behavior, the ones who carry the names of both our biological and ministry kids in our hearts in constant prayer. 

 

Maybe mothers day is a hard day for you. May you have suffered too many losses or didn’t have a mother fill the mother-sized space in your heart as she should have. God knows. You can sit with God knowing safely that what you can’t talk about is known and you are loved. God will be your mom, will be your dad, and will redeem everything that looks like ashes and loss into something beautiful to help someone else.