Inspirations on A Mother’s Heart
by Pat Lawson
“Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with shades of deeper meaning.” Maya Angelou
This post is not a typical Mother’s Day blog on the joys and strains of being a Momma. My prayer is that as you read these words, you will hear the Lord’s voice personalizing them to you. My hope is to give a bit of inspiration, to encourage you in the perspiration, in the journey of mothering those outside your home by extending yourself to help them out of their desperation.
This is my journey, beginning long before my three children were born. A story that started at eighteen when I was a freshman in college and newly saved. During my baptism, someone shared how they saw me as a “mother in Israel.” Ok, I’m sorry, but what does that even mean? I’ve heard it said that hindsight is 20/20 vision. I learned early on that having children is not the only way a woman becomes a mom. Over the past fifty years, I now see how the hand of God shaped me as, what I will call, a Momma to others in the Church. Lisa Bevere calls it a Godmother, a term that may be more fitting to you. In my case, this role also extended to many pre-believers that needed safety from their storms in life, before they could come to a new home, the home we call Church.
The womb of a mother is a child’s first home; her heartbeat is the one sound heard from their conception. Ideally, it’s a mother who welcomes her child into the world with her touch, her tone, and her tenderness. This all-important role is easily seen in the home, but what about the Church? How many people coming through its doors would stay if only they found in it a person of safety, an ear to listen, a hand to help, and a heart to love them without the fear of judgment. What if they found a selfless momma with no expectations, wanting only their best? Someone to welcome them home.
It’s my perception that the title ‘Momma’ is qualified not by stretch marks, but by one's heart. God places part of Himself into a woman to communicate His loving tenderness and compassion to their part of the world, wherever the local may be. It’s not my intent to exclude a man from this display of love and affection; however, I’m writing to women with their unique voice and ability to express the heart of God to others.
Henri Nouwen, one of my favorite devotional authors, writes in his book The Return of the Prodigal Son, “Jesus’ whole life and preaching had only one aim: to reveal this inexhaustible, unlimited motherly and fatherly love of His God and to show the way to let that love guide every part of our daily lives.” From my experiences as a Momma, I see that mothering initiates from one’s heart, much more than from one’s head. The role of a mother is selfless and self-giving, it’s speaking from a deep reservoir of love, it’s hoping when hopelessness is all one sees, it’s believing and fighting for the life of another.
My invitation is to invite you into a place of mothering in God’s home, the Church. Though a costly endeavor, the investment is well worth it. Ask God to bring those of His choosing. We have the honor of nurturing and loving someone into the fullness of their God-given design. It’s not necessarily our age or even knowledge that gives the ability to offer ourselves to others. It’s the heart’s capacity and maturity that affords us this ability.
In closing, I have a thought for you to ponder:
It was possibly a mother who packed the boy’s lunch that Jesus blessed to feed the multitude. A lunch extending far beyond a meal for her son. (John 6:8)
Is sowing our heart as a mother, a seed Jesus can use as a miracle to feed others?
Lord, may you use these words to inspire those reading to love all the more.
(Pat 1 Thess 3:12)
Photo by Gabriel Jimenez via Unsplash