A Special Request for Mother's Day

It's Mother's Day again.  I always love Mother's Day -- not because I get gifts from my kids and my husband, and not because I get "the day off" (which everyone knows just means that I have twice as much to do tomorrow).  I love Mother's Day because I think that being a mother is the most awesome job in the world and to have a day to recognize and be recognized is wonderful.  Yes, my children drive me to the brink of insanity, but I love them all so much.  I had my turn to drive my mother nuts, and my children are my reward and my punishment.  I was blessed with an amazing mother and when I married my husband, I got another amazing woman to call mom.

With all of the death and devastation across the South, where both of my mothers live, I am especially thankful for them this year and I am thankful to God for their safety.  There were many, many people who are not as blessed.  A good friend was volunteering in Monrovia yesterday, providing childcare with others while they held a big meeting for volunteers, victims, and survivors of the deadly tornadoes that swept through the area last week.  They were helping the kids to make Mother's Day cards.  There was one little girl who was very particular about how her card looked -- she was at every station being meticulous about which decorations she chose and how they were applied.  When her card was finished, it was one of the most beautiful ones produced.  Her mother was killed by the tornadoes.  When I read this story, I cried.  I cried for her and others like her who will never again feel their mother's arms around them, never hold their hand, and will not have them by their side for special days in their lives.  I cried for the mothers who survived but whose children did not.  Some who were literally snatched from their arms by the storms and others who didn't know for days their children's fates.  And I cried in relief.  Relief that those dearest to me are safe and well and available for me to call, to hug, and to just be with.

This Mother's Day, I want to honor those who have lost their mothers as well as those mother's who have lost their children by dedicating time in prayer.  My heart breaks for them and while I cannot provide physical comfort for them, I know that my God can.  He grieves for them as I do, and He can provide comfort when I cannot.  I ask all of you to set aside time today to pray for both the children who have lost their mothers and the mothers who have lost their children everywhere, but especially in the storm ravaged South where they face this first Mother's Day alone.

When someone you love becomes a memory, the memory becomes a treasure.

~Author Unknown