thoughts on the news of the day: mothers day

hmmm…..

            This Sunday marks the day we celebrate each year as Mother’s Day. Traditionally the second Sunday in May, mothers throughout the country are showered with flowers, served breakfast in bed, lovingly honored, or in some cases appropriately ignored.  It is a bittersweet paradoxical day.

            For most, it is a time to reminisce about days gone by when Mom was there to support, love and protect.  It can be sad day, though, when the mother who once loved us is no longer living.  Then, there are those who weren’t blessed with a loving mother.  In some cases, she just wasn’t around. In others, Mom was neglectful or even abusive.  For children in that category, Mother’s Day is sometimes even painful.

            Another category to which Mom’s Day is not so joyful are the many young women who would love to have a child, but aren’t able to conceive.  Year after year they struggle as friends all around them bear children.  It somehow doesn’t seem fair to be deprived of something so easy for so many.  And, tragically, Mother’s Day is almost unbearable for those who have lost a child.

            So, I have mixed feelings when I prepare my sermon and prayers for Mother’s Day Sunday.  I want to honor all of those women who have lavished love on their children but I want to be sensitive to those for whom the day is one of loss and pain.  In my own case, I mark the passing of my own mother who died several years ago, but I rejoice and revel in the gift of my own precious daughter.  And, I look ahead to the day when grandchildren will come into my life.

            hmmm…..