Mother’s Day is the day that my kids will smother me with the cards and crafts they have made that read “#1 MOM” or “Mom of the Year.” And while they do this, I will want to sit them down and talk to them about how we should be honest and not lead others to believe that they are something they are not.
Now, I know that I am a “good” mom. I mean, my kids are clothed, schooled and fed; I really could be doing much worse. But “Best MOM Ever?” I think not.
I’m not the “Best Mom Ever” when my harsh words and anger cut through the morning air. And I’m not the “#1 Mom” when I tell my kids to use their words to build one another up only to tear them down with my own words when they start fighting.
Not one of us is the mom that we need to be to our children. You and I both know that we have failed miserably. All you have to do is browse Pinterest, Facebook or mommy blogs and you will soon feel that anxiety of needing to do more for your kids rising up within you.
Now that I’ve given you the bad news and made the (burnt) toast from your Mother’s Day breakfast in bed drier than dirt and the (cold) coffee and scrambled eggs (with shells) have lost their appeal, let me give you the good news.
Romans 3:23-24 gives mothers the good news that we so desperately need to hear, “For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.” We have all failed but because of his great love for us he has given us the gift of his righteousness.
In other words; Christ died for moms!
Jesus knew what it was to care for others. He knew the patience needed to deal with the immaturity of those who didn’t understand. His very ministry was to the messy, the broken, and the demon possessed maniacs that our children all too often emulate. With you and me in mind, he perfectly and flawlessly cared for those around him when he could have so easily thrown in the towel. Do you see the love there?
We needed the blood of Christ to wipe our “bad mom” slate clean. But a clean slate wouldn’t be good enough, would it? If we simply had a clean slate set before us every day our lives would consist of trying to rewrite it with the words “Best Mom Ever.” But thank God that he didn’t leave the slate clean for moms. No, he wrote across it with permanent marker the title that was meant for him, “MY BELOVED WITH WHOM I AM WELL PLEASED.” Our record today remains as perfect, beloved, God pleasers; on the good days as well as the bad.
Do you believe this, my friends? No matter how much you make a mess of motherhood, He loves you just as much in your state of grace as he does in your state of disgrace.
This is our God. This is motherhood. We are his beloved! Let’s do the hard work of believing that we are just that.
And if I can leave you with one thought on this Mother’s Day let it be this, Christ loves mothers as the messes that they are, not as the cleaned up mothers that they think they should be. Not one of us is as she should be. This is great news!
This post first appeared on Karis, the women’s channel for CBMW.