May brings warm weather and warm memories. The ground warms up and soil is prepared for seeds and plants. Flowers bloom, grass is green, and the trees wear a full coat of leaves.
It is a month of BEGINNINGS.
We welcomed our first grandchild into the world in the month of May. She has had 20 years of birthday celebrations now. (Seems unbelievable!)
I love this 4 generation photo – my mom, our son, his daughter, and me.
It is the month of ENDINGS and TRANSITIONS.
Where we live, May signals the end of the school year. Life becomes very busy with the year-end activities, promotions, and graduations. There are bittersweet moments as seniors graduate from High Schools and Colleges to transition to their next endeavors.
It is a month of CELEBRATIONS.
My mom’s birthday was celebrated yearly on May 10, and it was in May 2012 that we had her celebration of life funeral service just one week shy of her 91st birthday. We siblings pulled “The Haken Trio” back together for the one and only time in decades so we could sing at Mom’s funeral.
May is the month where honor and appreciation are shown in special ways to the women who brought us into the world, as we remember our mothers each Mothers’ Day.
But what if our mothers are gone and the grief is fresh? Or what if one is estranged from her mother? What if you long to be a mother but that has not happened for you? What if even the thought of Mothers’ Day makes you sad and you can find no reason to celebrate?
Maybe it would help to consider and remember older women who have influenced you in positive ways during your lifetime, perhaps in one or more of the following ways:
- ‘Taking you under her wing’ when you needed someone.
- Encouraging you to hone the talents and skill that you are now proficient in, by giving you opportunities to exercise those talents and abilities.
- Giving you spiritual encouragement that led you to faith in Christ and helped you grow.
- Teaching you practical things that have now become second nature to you.
- Walking with you through a crisis, or two, or three, or …
- Remembering you on days that are of special importance to you.
- Praying with you and for you.
Older women in my life have ministered to me in all the above-mentioned ways, and I am thankful for each one. Many are gone now, but memories of them warm my heart,
This Mothers’ Day, let’s honor with thankful hearts:
- The mother who gave us life and brought us into the world, whether she raised us or not. No matter the circumstances, we are alive despite her having other options.
- The older women who stepped into the mother role in our lives when perhaps our birth mothers could not.
And let’s thank God for the strength He gives us to carry on. (Philippians 4:13)
Happy Mothers’ Day!
This one’s for you, Mom. Pete and I loved having you living here with us.
Blessings,
Ruth
Reaching, Encouraging, Connecting 