Easter is going to be early this year, coming as it does on the last Sunday in March, and this means everything else will be early too, including Mothers’ Day. I remember listening to programme about Mothers’ Day on the radio a number of years back, where listeners were asked to phone in with examples of the things their mother always used to say to them when they were growing up. The winning entry was –
“You don’t have to brush all of your teeth – just the ones you want to keep!”
My personal memories of sayings which issued regularly from the mouth of my own mum are –
“I’ve still got a hundred and one things to do!”
“I was bitterly disappointed!” and, of course, “Isn’t this just great!”
Our celebrations of Mothers’ Day originated with Mothering Sunday – the day when we celebrated our Mother Church. People who had grown up and moved away from home would make a point of going back on that particular Sunday, to renew their relationship with the Church family of their childhood.
The relationship a child has with his or her mother can be a very special one, as is captured in these words from Psalm 131 –
My heart is not proud, Lord, my eyes are not haughty;I do not concern myself with great matters or things too wonderful for me.But I have calmed and quieted myself, I am like a weaned child with its mother; like a weaned child I am content.
The psalmist here is using the image of a mother to speak of his relationship with God. A weaned child no longer has to be with its mother, rather it is there by choice, because it still has complete confidence in her love.
“A mother’s love is constant!” is a lovely old saying, but, sadly, we live in an age when this is not always true. Yet we know that the love God made known to us in Jesus, and demonstrated fully in the events of Holy Week and Easter, is one in which we can have complete confidence, because it will never fail.
If you are someone who has drifted away from your mother church, and are wondering if God’s love for you has changed, why not risk returning sometime this month. Whether it’s Mothers’ Day, or Passion Sunday, or Palm Sunday, or Easter. You will find that yesterday, today and forever, his love for you will always remain the same.
Much love,
John