(Happy?) Mother’s Day

Today is the day we celebrate the special women in our lives. We send cards and flowers to our moms. We give our grandmas a call or pay them a visit. We may even take the special ladies in our lives out to dinner. But do all the fanfare and purchased displays of gratitude do the holiday any justice?

According to the Wikipedia, the founder of the Mother’s Day observance in the United States was a woman named Anna Jarvis. She helped establish the holiday as a time that people would set aside to show honor and respect to their mothers. But before her death, she regretted her achievement.

The over-commercialization of the holiday had become overwhelming to her. She resented that the holiday was nothing more than a superficial display of affection. Instead of the heart-warming celebration of love she envisioned, it became a cash cow for many businesses. Even this weekend, you may have found it hard to escape the “Mother’s Day” sales at the mall, restaurant specials, and even discount oil changes!

Does any of this make your mom really happy? Sure, she may appreciate not having to prepare a meal one night in the year. Or she may enjoy the day of lavish attention spent on her. She may even really like card you made—or spent extra time in the pharmacy picking out because it said EXACTLY what you would have written.

But a mother’s true joy comes from her children. Knowing she is raising, or has raised, people who have personally rewarding lives can give her a feeling that a thousand Mother’s Day bouquets can never achieve. And for Christian moms, being escorted to church on Sunday morning is a nice Mother’s Day gesture. But knowing that her children have internalized the spiritual lessons she’s taught and that they have followed Christ the way she has encouraged them—that’s a gift that never fades.

A happy Mother’s Day isn’t a once-a-year event. And I would believe that’s what Ms. Anna Jarvis would want us to remember today. So as we recognize our moms, grandmas, aunties, and other influential women in our lives today, let us truly honor them with how we live our lives each and every day.

May your father and mother be glad;

may she who gave you birth rejoice!

                                                (Proverbs 23:25)

Happy Mother’s Day!