Mom….as a young girl in Jamaica…She’s the one on the left…

I hope that you are celebrating your mother today as this is Mother’s Day! I know that today is a bittersweet day for many as they have wonderful memories of their mothers but their mothers have passed on or have living mothers but long to be mothers themselves and this day is a reminder that another year is passing by. And there are many other scenarios that can cause this day to be a bittersweet one…

A few years ago, I wrote some devotionals about mothers and their relationships with their daughters, which can be bittersweet, and submitted them to a devotional book. However, my entries were not accepted for publication.   Still, in honor of mothers everywhere, I am sharing them with you here. The first one is about my relationship with my mother. Also, I have posted a few pics of my mom over the years.

Devotional #1

A Mother’s Mercy

“I will never forget this awful time, as I grieve over my loss.

Yet I still dare to hope, when I remember this: The faithful love of the Lord never ends! His mercies never cease.”

Lamentations 3:20-22

“A prom for eighth graders,” my father sputtered. “That is inappropriate. No. You cannot go!”

Look at my hot mom – stylin’ & profilin’!

A preacher’s daughter, I realized I had more rules than my girlfriends, but I had hoped in this case my father would let me join in with the crowd. True to form, however, he said no to my request and wouldn’t budge. On the Friday before the prom that weekend, I was a broken spigot of quiet tears and didn’t know how I was going to bear hearing about the prom from my girlfriends on Monday.

My mother, also a preacher’s daughter, surprised me when she said, “I have made an appointment for you to get your hair done and cut tomorrow morning.”

She agreed with my father, but she heard and understood my pain.

At school on Monday, I didn’t get to regale my girlfriends with stories about the prom, but they did “ooh and aah” about my sharp, new haircut!

A mother’s mercy, like God’s mercy, can go a long way in times of distress.

Devotional #2

 Our Impossibilities are God’s Specialties

“Then the Lord said to Abraham, ‘Why did Sarah laugh? Why did she say, Can an old woman like me have a baby? Is anything too hard for the Lord? I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.’”

Genesis 18:13-14

My Mom and Dad on their wedding day…

Just months before her thirty-second birthday and no husband on the horizon, Michelle reasoned she wouldn’t be like her mother who had her at 32 years old or her sisters who had their first children at 32 years old. After reading a newspaper article about a shelter, she decided to give to children by helping the shelter’s pregnant teenagers get their GED. Although the program was quickly phased out, Michelle volunteered with the shelter’s “Rock the Baby” program for babies born to drug addicted parents. She was transfixed when she met a dark brown baby dressed in pink named Nicole. The baby resembled her sister who died when she was a baby. Her name was Nicole too. She was surprised when an adoptive mother from the shelter said, “When are you taking Nicole home?” Nicole had become attached to her, but she hadn’t considered adopting her, Michelle replied. “Sometimes it’s not what you choose, it’s who chooses you,” the mother declared. Just months before her thirty-third birthday, Michelle adopted Nicole.

Miracles happen in God’s timing.

Devotional #3

Standing in the Gap

 “And anyone who welcomes a little child like this on my behalf is welcoming me.”

Mom had da bomb Jheri curl back in the day…(Mom, me and my brother)

Matthew 18:5

Valerie was an unhappy child. Her mother, who suffered from manic depression, worked as a night barmaid, leaving her with her stepfather. Her stepfather used the time to sexually abuse her. After telling her mother about the abuse, her mother suggested that she move from their Brooklyn, New York home to her Christian aunt’s home in Atlanta, Georgia. Feeling relieved, Valerie, who was 11 years old, immediately moved in her with aunt and her family. From then on, Valerie called her aunt, “Mom.” Still, going from a home with few rules to a home with many rules was challenging. Punctuality and church attendance were not options. After high school graduation, Valerie left her aunt’s home and explored her freedom. Years later, however, Valerie credits her aunt with teaching her punctuality and inspiring her faith in God and prayer. “She filled in the gap for the entire family.” And when her aunt got sick, Valerie’s mother, a Christian by then, cared for her until her death.

God honors those who stand in the gap for children.

My Mom, Dad, brothers and me at my father’s retirement party in December…

Any thoughts?

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