Thoughts on Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day is Sunday.

Even now, so many years after giving up the battle to try and conceive, even after adopting two amazing children, Mother’s Day is a hard day — mostly because I remember the pain of every Mother’s Day before children. And because I have friends and family who still feel that pain acutely every day, but especially on this day.

All week, my Facebook feed has been full of people talking about what they hope they’ll get, or sharing links to articles with sometimes funny, sometimes horrifying, sometimes thought provoking takes on what women want for Mother’s Day and how it’s a husband’s duty to make sure his wife feels like a queen on this day of all days.

I don’t want that. I never have.

There isn’t anything wrong with it, though, if you do.

Where I think we mess up is when we forget that there are women out there for whom Mother’s Day is hard. Maybe they’ve never been able to have children. Maybe they’ve lost a child. Maybe they’re struggling to embrace motherhood because it’s turning out so differently than they imagined. Maybe they’re missing their own mother who has passed on or from whom they’re estranged. There are a lot of reasons why someone might struggle this weekend. So I would urge you to be kind. Be full of love. And remember that every woman matters to Jesus, whether or not she’s a mother.

And if Mother’s Day is hard for you because of infertility, you might consider checking out A Walk in the Valley, a devotional I was part of with several other ladies. All of understand what it is to struggle with the physical and emotional pain of infertility. And all of us found, in one way or another, a glimmer of hope and healing in Christ.