“Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God has commanded you, so that you may live long and that it may go well with you in the land the Lord your God is giving you.”
Deuteronomy 5:16
Today is Mother’s Day. This special day comes around once a year, and we stop to honor our mothers and all those women who exemplify the wisdom, grace, and influence of godly mothers. Yet each year I am reminded that though this may be a happy Mother’s Day for some, it is not for others. It is a difficult day for those who have lost their mothers, especially recently. It is a difficult day for mothers whose children have died. It is a difficult day for mothers separated from their children for any number of reasons. It is a difficult day for mothers in war-torn nations who cannot feed or protect their children. It is a difficult day for those who desperately desire to be mothers but cannot conceive or adopt. How can we be genuinely happy when they are not?
The widow in 2 Kings 4:1-7 knows a thing or two about desperation. She was a poor widow, in a society that did not esteem women, especially widows. In addition, creditors were threatening to take her two boys as slaves. Wishing this woman, a happy Mother’s Day would be cruel because she was desperate. Yet, all around us, are women, dealing with equally desperate situations and conditions. All around us are women for whom the greeting, “Happy Mother’s Day!” may feel like a stab in the heart.
The widow comes to Elisha and “cries out.” She does not “say, tell, or state” In her pain, she shrieks, and the prophet hears her desperation, and he does something about it. As Christian mothers and daughters, Mother’s Day provides us with a unique opportunity to honor and celebrate the role of motherhood while at the same time extending God’s love and compassion to the shrieking women in our circle of influence. We have the blessing of honoring the women who gave us life, and then lovingly nurtured us to adulthood, and we have the privilege of interceding for those who find themselves in painful and desperate situations.
Breakfast in bed is a lovely gesture. But let us go beyond that. Let us, in addition, stand in solidarity with the desperate mothers around the world. Let us cry out on their behalf and bring their situations before our compassionate Savior who promises to hear and answer our prayers (Psalm 91:14-15). Let us put Jesus Christ at the center of Mother’s Day. AMEN!