This Month's Messenger
Download the entire Newsletter here.
April's Article:
Hello, Fairview Heights!
Happy Mothers Day!
There really is no one quite like Mom! Her unconditional love for her children is something special, something from God. I can tell you that I don’t really have any true knowledge of the mother and child bond, because I am not a mother. I have, however, watched my wife carry my four children; and I was with her when she gave birth to each of them. I understand during those forty-or-so months her relationship with our children began in a way that is much different than their relationship with any other human being. What an amazing miracle of life! I also understand that the labor process (to which we have Eve to thank!), and even the final weeks, places my children in a place of debt that they cannot repay. My wife never reminds them of this (as I probably would). The joy that she has in loving them has erased the discomfort and hardships. This is an amazing miracle of being a mother! Proverbs 15:25 expresses this miracle:
“Let your father and mother be glad, and let her rejoice who gave birth to you.”
Proverbs 15:25
The birthing process of nurturing life and bringing it forth into the world is the joy of sharing in God’s miracle of new life. What a privilege to share this creative joy with our great God. The unconditional love of our mothers is like to that of God’s love. If the time mom carried us was the foundation for her love for us, how much greater does the God who created us in our mother’s womb love us? (Psalm 22:19-20, 139:13). Let us honor and not shame our mothers; let us love and not forsake our mothers. Praise God for His gift of mothers and their love for us. Just as none of us would have life without our mothers, we would not have life without God working in our mothers to give us life. May we appreciate our mothers, and honor God so that we live to bring them the joy they deserve (Proverbs 1:8, 15:20, 29:15).
Maybe one day everyone will understand the joy of motherhood like mom does:
“1 Praise the LORD! Praise, O servants of the LORD, Praise the name of the LORD. 2 Blessed be the name of the LORD From this time forth and forever. 3 From the rising of the sun to its setting The name of the LORD is to be praised. 4 The LORD is high above all nations; His glory is above the heavens. 5 Who is like the LORD our God, Who is enthroned on high, 6 Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth? 7 He raises the poor from the dust And lifts the needy from the ash heap, 8 To make them sit with princes, With the princes of His people. 9 He makes the barren woman abide in the house as a joyful mother of children. Praise the LORD!”
Psalm 113
Thanks, Mom!