Bruce Collins, Evangelist

The personal website of Bruce Collins

Mother’s Day for the Hurting!

 

 

To the woman He said: "I will greatly multiply your sorrow and your conception; In pain you shall bring forth children; Your desire shall be for your husband, And he shall rule over you." (Genesis 3:16)

 

A Different Perspective

Mother’s day is a big deal for most people.  It is one day when mothers are shown that they are valued and loved.  We know that the world would not exist without them.  Normally we think of a mother as nurturing.  However, not all mothers are good and not all mothers are nurturing.  While it is nice to be able to have a day to recognize mothers, it is a day that reminds us there is a lot of sorrow in this world.

 

The First Mother

Eve of course was the first mother.  Because she "messed up" in her desire to be "as gods" she brought sin into the world.  Her husband loved her and went along with her rebellion.  He was not deceived according to 1 Timothy 2:14 which meant that he knowingly went along with Eve in order to keep from being separated from her.  By being deceived by Satan, she lost the blessings of paradise in the Garden of Eden, she produced children in pain and sorrow, and her first born son turned out to be a murderer.  I am sure that with hindsight she would loved to have had a "do-over."

 

Mothers for whom Mother’s day may not be a Blessing

Some mothers can’t have children for one reason or another.  Others have tragically lost children.  That happened in my own family.  Others have children that have pursued lifestyles that are not a credit to them or their moms.  Some moms never hear from their children, even on Mother’s day.   Mother’s day makes those situations very painful particularly when others are rejoicing in their children and in their own mothers on that day.  When we go to church services where the moms are given roses or carnations by their children, how must that affect those whose children have died and those whose children have rebelled and those who can’t have children? 

 

Mother’s day has to be hard as well for those who have lost their moms, especially if they have lost them recently.  If the mothers were true believers in the Lord Jesus Christ, of course, there is joy in KNOWING that the mothers are enjoying the presence of the Lord in heaven.  But that doesn’t make the grieving on earth any less severe. 

 

Biblical Mothers

Mary must have been a good mother to the Lord yet she was told that a sword would pierce her own soul also by a spirit-filled man called Simeon (Luke 2:35).  She was at the cross when the Lord was crucified.  She likely understood that this was necessary for God’s plan of salvation to be just and at the same time merciful, but I am sure that her heart was broken by what was so cruelly done to her Son.

 

Timothy had a good mother and a good grandmother.  They laid the foundation for his own faith in the Lord and for his faithful service to Paul and to the Lord.  We thank God for mothers like this because most of us are predisposed to believe what we have been taught as children.  I believe our view of God is often settled long before we reach the "rebellious teens."  Fathers tend to develop our concept of God; mothers tend to develop our relationship to that God.  If a father is a disciplinarian, if he is mostly absent, our God who is also a father will likely seem to be like that.  But whatever concept of God we have, reverence for that God will often be taught by mothers.  Of course I am generalizing, but I believe that what I am saying is often true.

 

Mother’s Day

Sometimes I think Mother’s day does more harm than good.  Many women pretend to be happy when they are really hurting as they see what they perceive to be other happy families.  Most of us probably failed in trying to seek out and encourage those who were hurting this Mother’s day.  

 

Many mothers are doted on on Mother’s day and forgotten the rest of the year.  I am glad for those who have living mothers and who make every day Mother’s day.

 

I am also glad that where the family relationships are broken or where there has been a loss that causes sorrow the Lord tells us that He can turn sorrow to joy.  He did it for the disciples when they saw the resurrected Lord after His crucifixion.  And He can do it for any who find this world to be a place of sorrow.  The Lord says, " Weeping may endure for a night (we are in the night season), but joy comes in the morning (Psalm 30:5)."  The night has grown dark, sorrow is everywhere.  Evil is everywhere.  But joy will come when the Lord comes for those of us who have our confidence in Him.

 

Bruce Collins

 

Meditation for the week of May 13, 2018

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