Afterwords -- mothers
“Truly, I say to you, there is no one who has left house or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or lands, for my sake and for the gospel, who will not receive a hundredfold now in this time, houses and brothers and sisters and mothers and children and lands, with persecutions, and in the age to come eternal life." (Mark 10:29-30 ESV)
"The villagers ceased in Israel; they ceased to be until I arose; I, Deborah, arose as a mother in Israel." (Judges 5:7)
"The man called his wife's name Eve, because she was the mother of all living." (Genesis 3:20)
Dear friends,
This Sunday is Mothers' Day. This letter came about rather suddenly as I was going through some family pictures. So here goes.
Motherhood is God's idea. It's an image in creation of the Lord's own life-giving care and nurture for his children: "Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb? Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you. Behold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands; your walls are continually before me." (Isa 49:15-16) Like a mother, God gives, and gives, and gives again -- it's his giving that gives life. The first woman, Eve, may not have been a scientist or social media influencer, but "mother of all living" (Gen 3:20) -- that's pretty impressive in my book, not to mention influential to the nth degree.
Even the Apostle Paul sought to have the attribute of motherhood in his own discipling ministry: "...we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother taking care of her own children." (1 Thess 2:7)
I have been blessed by the various mothers God has placed in my life. This means, of course, that a woman need not be a biological mother to have a motherly influence on others. That may not be of great comfort to mothers without biological children, but it remains a fact that women can be nurturing, life-giving mothers in more ways than one.
For me the influence of my own mother ranks first. She had a strong moral sense and a deep religious interest. (As I was growing up, her favorite author was Teilhard de Chardin, whom I never bought into.) However, her love for God's creation and his creatures was unsurpassed. Horses came first, and dogs a close second. Her character and life example, along with her care and support for me, had a strong moral influence in my life.
As we talked later about my conversion to Christianity in 1971, she had questions about God's grace and how was it possible to have assurance of salvation? Her understanding of faith in Christ became much clearer later on. Toward the very end of her life, after years of suffering with Parkinson's disease, she asked her hospice worker to sing to her, "The Old Rugged Cross". I was not there as she passed, but the nurse who sang told me, "Your mother was a Christian, and she knew where she was going." I still look back on and treasure all our times together.
In my early days of being a Christian, the Lord blessed me with the loving, motherly care of a number of older women in our Christian fellowship, the Son House. Joyce Hutcheson, along with her friends Alice, Eileen, and Marie, brought so much gentle wisdom to our circle of young, exuberant (and sometimes foolish) believers. For these women I thank God, and I see this as a fulfillment of the verse from Mark's gospel quoted above, namely, about the multiplied gift of mothers for those who follow Christ. We need such mothers! (Jesus' call to leave family was not a denigration of the family, but a reminder that the call of Christ's kingdom comes first, even above natural family ties.)
Also, I have been enriched by the writings of godly women down through history. For me, these "mothers of Israel" included Amy Carmichael, Elisabeth Elliot, and Edith Schaeffer. Even now, as my wife and I together are reading the life of Elisabeth Elliot, we are still learning from her written thoughts and the example of her life. She points us again and again to the cross of Christ...
"I know of no answer to give to anyone except the answer given to all the world in the cross. It was there that the great Grain of Wheat died—not that death should be the end of the story, but that it should be the beginning of the story, as it is in all the cycles of nature. The grain dies. The harvest results. The sun must die in the west if it is to rise in the east." (Elisabeth Elliot, A Path Through Suffering)
Finally, and certainly not least, is my own wife, a mother who has dedicated her life to many (many) years of parenting our children. The photo above is of her with our last child, our daughter Rebekah. I have learned so much watching my wife, a true "mother in Israel", loving and nurturing our children with such patience and gentleness.
Such mothering is a hidden, unseen, and sometimes unwanted, calling. But a mother's reward is with the Lord. And like the nursing mother remembers her little child, so God will not forget those mothers who have labored (like himself) in that calling.
So, this Mothers' Day, take time to honor and celebrate the mothers that God has placed in your life!
Sandy
Photo below of Elisabeth Elliot’s autograph in Twelve Baskets of Crumbs, which she signed for us in July 1978. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The ESV Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
