As I was going through the check out at my neighborhood grocery store I caught sight of a magazine cover asking a straightforward question. It simply asked, “Who raised you?” I thought it was a great question especially as we were approaching Mother’s Day, which clearly was the intent. Now I know that we celebrated our mothers yesterday, but for most of us the memories of times we have spent with these women will linger beyond one day.
For me it has been many years since my mother went to be with the Lord, but I still have sharp memories of our days together. Since I am a mother myself, I know how important these moments, days, and years are to us, and our children. As most women look over the span of their lives they will see much significance in those years, and how fundamental they were in not only shaping their children, but in shaping their own personal identities.
As women we have a powerful influence over children, whether they be our natural offspring, or those that need a mother figure in their life. It is an all important place that we step into not fully realizing the far reaching effects of such a connection.
Perhaps some of us didn’t necessarily choose these children, but they chose us. Maybe their was a youngster that came to your home with one of your children that clearly needed parental guidance. As they came, it was obvious that they were coming for more than just to be with their friend. Your home may have been a place where they felt the love of God among the people who lived there, and this was enough to draw them in. I recall a friend that one of my children had that loved coming to our home. This particular child would walk in and make the same declaration each time, “It smells so good in here!” Many years later I learned that there was strife and alcohol abuse in the place that this child called home.
At the end of the day, we bring honor to this all important person in our life by the way that we live! And even if we didn’t have the best experiences growing up we can choose to look beyond those times, and as believing women cover it all with the grace that has been freely given to us.
Galatians 5:22-23 “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control, against such things there is no law.”