Today is "Mom's Day."  They are being recognized throughout the nation and maybe are being treated with breakfast in bed, flowers, a box of their favorite candy, or a handmade gift.  I didn't realize that Mother's Day was first observed in 1872, as a way for moms whose sons had fought or died for either side in the Civil War to meet and support each other.  For the next 44 years, the momentum for making it a national holiday was building, and in 1914, Congress officially passed a bill that did just that.  

As I reflect this morning on the gift my mom has been in my life, I see her as a nurturer, who diligently went about her task in raising her three children to the best of her ability.  Mom was my first teacher, teaching me about Jesus and how to write my name.  She taught me how to use a needle and thread and bake chocolate chip cookies.  Every spring we would be out in the garden, planting tiny seeds which would grow into vegetable plants, whose fruits we would harvest and can to use during the winter months.  As childhood diseases attacked my body, she soothed my distress.  Mom also showed her children what it meant to be a partner in marriage, working alongside dad as we would fix fence, pen up sows, walk beans, or harvest the crops.  She continues to be a Christian role model to her husband, children, and friends.  

Moms do not go to school to learn how to be moms, but learn how to be moms by modeling qualities they admire from their own mother, day-to-day practice, and lots of on-the-job training.  The duty of a mom is to continually love, pray, and "worry" about her children!   And Mary fulfilled those duties also as Christ's mom.

We receive only five glimpses of Christ's interaction with his mother after the account of his birth.  The first is when the family traveled to Jerusalem to celebrate the Passover.  Christ stayed in the Temple, speaking to the people gathered, as his parents started the journey back to Nazareth.  Imagine the concern Mary had as she realized that their oldest son was not with them.   I'm sure she was like other moms who have lost sight of their child and is frantically searching.  And as the time stretched into the third day of not finding Him, the guilt and frustration, compounded with a lack of sleep, built.  And though she couldn't rely on an "Amber Alert" or even the Jerusalem police to assist, when Mary did find Him, Christ directed them to His greater will, something at the time she didn't understand.  

Moms have plans for their children, plans that aren't always the same as their children's.  But imagine Mary's joy when she saw the man Christ grew to be, and the peace she experienced when she comprehended that Christ's mission as the Son of God had been fulfilled.     Our moms likewise are happy when we grow as children of God, continuing to share the love of Jesus with others.

Please join me in thanking moms for the devotion and love they have shared with their children.

Happy Mother's Day,