Have you ever known a woman like that? It’s going to be done her way or no way at all.
In this world, this selfish world we live in, we all want what we want when we want it and want things done in the way we want them done. Our children are born selfish and pitch temper tantrums when they don’t get what they want. It’s part of our sinful human nature.
With Mother’s Day fast approaching, the commercial world starts pumping out ideas on how to honor mothers. Cards. Flowers. Jewelry. Perfume. Chocolate. Meals at restaurants. Breakfast in bed. The list goes on and on. If your family doesn’t know what you want or have a clue what to get you, the world will make sure and tell them what it thinks you should have.
For me, Mother’s Day often is a sad day. I even subconsciously “prepare” myself to be sad ahead of time and end up becoming pretty grumping in the days beforehand. Why? My own mother passed away in 1993. Even though I don’t really get down about her absence anymore I do feed off of all the propaganda out there and I begin to feel emotions I normally would not.
In addition, we have always done Mother’s Day a little bit differently around here and we don’t go all out with gifts and trips and meals at restaurants and such. So when I start to hear about what other mothers experienced for Mother’s Day, I feed off of that, as well, and I plummet. Silly, huh?
How can a day that doesn’t really matter to me much all of a sudden make me so sad? It’s my sinful human nature. My need to be recognized. My false humility when I say I don’t need to be recognized. My stubbornness in admitting that I do really miss my mother on those days and it’s okay to do so. I develop an attitude of “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
My prayer this year is that I will handle Mother’s Day so much better than I have in the years past. I will accept the Happy Mother’s Day wishes from friends and not feel sad if my own family forgets to say it. I will be thrilled that I have a family, which makes me a mother, and not compare my blessing with the blessings of other mothers. I will be thankful for the fact that I am alive to celebrate Mother’s Day and that I have a mother-in-law with whom to celebrate it. I will realize that Mother’s Day was not established to honor mothers who are divas but to honor mothers that do best what it means to be a mother – love and serve others.
I hope you have a great Mother’s Day and can be thankful for the little blessings God has given you. May their dirty faces and hands and their tight squeezes around your neck be exactly the gift you need to make Mama happy!
Sherri Johnson is a homeschool mom (14 years) who is a published author and speaker and who loves to share God with others and to make people laugh. She enjoys speaking to homeschool groups about organization, record keeping, homeschooling high school, keeping kids pure, and more. She has been married for 22 years and has a 20 year old daughter and a 16 year old son. She is a writer who writes homeschool resources and Bible Studies but loves writing Christian Romance more than anything.
www.sherriwilsonjohnson.com
Oh Sherri, you are so right! We, as mothers, need to always check our attitudes aiming to be like that of Christ Jesus. But it is so easy to fall into that woe is me when we are chief servants in the home 🙂 Thank you for showing us that Mother’s Day is a day for US to be thankful and to rejoice in the sloppy kisses and leg hugs abundant around us.
🙂
Thank you for sharing your beautiful heart with us, Sherri! I so appreciate your honesty and transparency. We all truly are so blessed who are mothers — Children are such a gift!