Most people have only one person to refer to when they think of their mom -- the person who gave them birth or the woman who has adopted them. For me, I have four different mothers (listed chronologically below):
1) Manmie -- the one who carried me in her womb, raised me in Haiti, and taught me God's Word.
2) Momma -- the one who introduced me to classical music and higher thought, and who also grasped my fragile heart in the hostile and depressing world of my teenage years.
3) Pami -- the one who opened her home to me in college and counseled me through myriad thorny issues as a young adult.
4) Mom -- the one who gave birth to my wife and who embraced me as a true son in all the senses of the term.
Each one of the women mentioned above encapsulates one or more aspects of motherhood that I undoubtedly needed (and still need) to grow into the man I am becoming every single day. The heart that is being nurtured in me for God and for my fellow human being -- I am sure of it -- is directly linked to the exposure I have been granted to these four amazing mothers in my life.
They love me.
They pray for me.
The care about me.
As I think of their impact on my heart, I am blessed to see a strong connection between motherhood and the Advent of our Lord. This prophetic passage below gives further insight:
" 'Who has ever heard of such a thing? Who has ever seen such things? Can a country be born in a day or a nation be brought forth in a moment? Yet no sooner is Zion in labor than she gives birth to her children. Do I bring to the moment of birth and not give delivery?' says the Lord. 'Do I close up the womb when I bring to delivery?' says your God. Rejoice with Jerusalem and be glad for her, all you who love her; rejoice greatly with her, all you who mourn over her. For you will nurse and be satisfied at her comforting breasts; you will drink deeply and delight in her overflowing abundance . . . I will extend peace to her like a river, and the wealth of nations like a flooding stream; you will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. As a mother comforts her child, so will I comfort you; and you will be comforted over Jerusalem." -- Isaiah 66:8-13, NIV
Indeed, motherhood is a blessing because the Lord likens Himself to a mother in His coming to us. He says, "like a woman in childbirth, I cry out, I gasp and pant" (Isaiah 42:14). In giving "birth" to us, His coming leads the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths the Lord guides you and me -- just like my four mothers have done with me. The Coming One is poised to turn the darkness into light and make the rough places smooth -- just like my four mothers have often done with me in times of grief, confusion, frustration, and uncertainty.
And as far as comfort goes, how helpful these four mothers of mine have been to me in my long stretches of grief, worry, and loss. To think that the Coming One can comfort me so much more than these four women ever could simply blows my mind away. How grateful I am to know that His comfort is more than sufficient for my neediness!
If, my friend, you have not had a similar experience with your own mother, please take heart. If, my friend, your mother is no longer with you because of death, divorce, sickness, abandonment, or something else, please turn to Jesus. When you feel motherless, know that the Coming One is ready to take you, and nurse you, and carry you in His arms, and dandle you on His knees, and watch you grow, and comfort you, and talk to you, and walk with you, and give you the fullness of His love.
Yes, come to us, Lord Jesus!
Lead us to drink deeply and delight in Your overflowing abundance!
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