How often have I desired to gather your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing.” Matthew 23:37 (niv).
Here we are on Mothering Sunday giving thanks to Mum’s. Grandma’s, Aunts, Godmothers, all woman who play a significant role in the lives of others.
As with my birthday, today was very different. Today I had no expectations of how my family were to demonstrate their thankfulness for all I have done for them throughout the past year. I had no thoughts of what gift would accurately reflect their love for me or my sacrificial love for them.
In fact, I told my children not to buy me anything not even a card because somewhere in the depths of my heart I knew that these dear children are God’s blessing to me, they are his gifts to enable me to grow more and more into the likeness of Christ.
My prayers are, rather than have a gift one day a year, that we all learn from God how to be a gift to one another throughout the year. To notice those little moments in time that we do something for others without thought for ourselves, to ask God to bring us moments that we can surprise one another with an action of love. That we all learn what it is to be helpful to one another, to notice when one of us needs to be lifted up or to notice when one of us needs encouragement to focus on Jesus rather than the difficult circumstances of life.
That as family we cry together ‘As for me and my house we will serve the Lord’. That in all we do we draw others to the saving grace of the Lord Jesus’ willingness to go to the cross so that no-one needs to perish but all have the offer of eternal life with Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
My children have been three of the most influential people in my life, God has used them to convict me of my sin, encouraged me that change is possible, demonstrated the willingness to love the unlovable, shown me what godly self-control is, taught me how to love well and provided me with opportunities to learn to trust God as my perfect parent.
So today I want to give them thanks, as they are older for allowing me to continue to share this journey with them, to give them thanks that they bring the worst and best in me, to give them thanks for the opportunities they give me to learn how to be more like Jesus.
And above all things I want to give God thanks for blessing me with his treasured possessions and I want to be able to demonstrate to them what it is to be loved well and to be willing to love well as I learn from Jesus how to be the child God planned for me to be.
Living His Word 