May 10, 2020
Happy Mother’s Day to all you MOM’s! You are awesome and I acknowledge your hard work and sacrifice on behalf of your families. It’s not an easy job but it’s the best job on the planet!!
I took a wander through my Bible today for my devotions and came across 2 John 5-6. It says “And now, dear lady, I am not writing you a new command but one we have had from the beginning. I ask that we love one another. And this is love: that we walk in obedience to his commands. As you have heard from the beginning, his command is that you walk in love.”
…love each other
…walk in obedience
…walk in love
Being a mom is all about love right? A couple of days ago I was reading 1 Corinthians 13:4-8a and was struck by how I had broken every one of these “love rules” on behalf of my children when they were growing up. I haven’t always walked in obedience to love like 2 John encourages.
1 Corinthians 13:4-8a says, “Love is patient (I wasn’t all the time), love is kind (sometimes I was not). It does not envy (sometimes I envied other mom’s who seemed to have it all together), it does not boast (oh baby did I boast about my kids), it is not proud (oh yes, I was very proud!). It is not rude (I was), it is not self-seeking (I was), it is not easily angered (forgive me but yes…), it keeps no record of wrongs (um, yes again). Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails.” …but I sure do.
Being a mom can come with boat loads of guilt. When our families are young life is full of activities, school, church, music, sports. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like there’s enough mom-me to go around. The house of Love can suffer.
My kids are grown now and have families of their own. I was wondering what they thought the legacy of love was in our house? Did they know how much we loved them? Did they know how sorry we were that we failed them time and time again? Did they know that our only hope was in the Lord because we fell short so often? Did they learn to trust the Lord in spite of our failures? Did love win?
Yes, I believe so.
Can I ask you to go back and read the verses again? This time real slow.
What do you see? Guilt? A lack in yourself? Hope? I was on my face before the Lord after reading it a second time because I finally realized this wasn’t about me not measuring up to some impossible standard…this love being spoken about is Jesus. He is love. He is the perfection of love, come to life for me.
Scripture isn’t intended to shame us, it’s intended to draw us ever closer to the Lord. It’s about pointing us to Christ as the example of how to be the woman, the mom and the wife God wants us to be. As 2 John puts it, we are obedient to him when we walk the way he did.
I’d like to share the prayer that flowed out of me after I read these love verses in 1 Corinthians and I pray it would encourage your heart today.
Jesus, help me to remember patience when someone is being slow. They are dealing with things I don’t know about. Help me to slow down, take my hand off the horn, close my mouth so words spoken in selfish haste can’t harm.
Jesus help me to be kind when the world screams nasty. Kindness fills with hope, unkind fills with despair. Help kindness bubble out of my heart, hands, mouth especially when face to face with those who are unkind to me.
Jesus help me to remember that envy destroys my ability to be thankful. Help me to stay in my lane, focus on contentment and not try to out-do anyone. You are the God of daily bread and daily renewal. You are the Lord of filled cups, running over cups, forever filled cups.
Jesus help me to remember that boasting cuts you out of the equation. It’s pride in it’s ugliest form. Help me to meditate on your provision and to always acknowledge that outside of your hand, I have nothing. Outside of your grace, I am nothing.
Jesus help me remember that pride was the original sin. Even before the garden, pride sullied the relationship between you and your creation. It kills and destroys. Help me keep my eyes locked on you, your beauty, strength and love so that it consumes me, leaving nothing in between us.
Jesus help me remember that rude is so hurtful. It casts a shadow of belittling over those I treat that way. It’s an attempt to elevate myself at the expense of someone else. You, who had every reason to put me in my place humbled yourself when you came to earth because you loved me so much.
Jesus help me remember that self-seeking is lonely. It sequesters me away from deep, intimate relationships, the kind that embraces “us” and “we”, not just me. Open my eyes to the needs of others so that I willfully set aside my own agenda and serve others as evidence of how much I love you.
Jesus help me to put aside my long list of wrongs. It’s a one-sided, dirty list of regrets. Help me to forgive and not keep score because I know you have all things under control and I trust you to work all things out for my benefit and for your glory.
Jesus help me never clap in delight when evil gets the upper hand. I might be tempted to, if I take my eyes off your truth because the world’s standards are so different from yours. Help me to hide your word in my heart so that I won’t sin against you.
Jesus bring situations into my life that teach me how to draw closer to you. Help me to feel your protection when I am threatened. Help me to be comforted by your truth when I am being betrayed. Help me to find your path when I am lost and alone. Help me keep going when I have no will to persevere.
You never fail me.
Amen.
I have failed many times as a mom. You probably have too. It’s okay that we’re not perfect. It’s okay that we find ourselves at the end of our rope. It’s okay that we’re tired. Does the Lord not know that we struggle sometimes? Yes he does and that’s exactly why he fills us with his Holy Spirit, our Comforter who helps us be honest with ourselves, ask for forgiveness when we need to and press on. Obedience to the Lord means that no matter what I feel like, I choose love.
Can I encourage you that it was ordained before time began that your children would call you mom.
You.
There’s no one else, no one better or more qualified. No one younger, older, funnier, wiser will ever be able to do what you do because God specifically chose you. You’re the only one who can fulfill that role in your family.
I pray a rich blessing over each one of you today. You are special and dearly loved!