Remembering Mom

This is one of those days that I could really use a 'Mommy hug'. You know the kind of which I speak: It is the hug that warms you when you stayed outside so long you can't feel your fingers; It is the hug that comforts you when your beloved pet dies; It is the hug that protects you from the taunts of siblings; It is the hug that reminds you how unconditionally loved you are; It is the hug that heals anything that might ail you, including scraped knees and elbows; It is the hug that sees you out the door with the words, 'Have a good day', as you first go to school, and it is the hug that welcomes you in the door when time and others have moved you beyond the walls of her safety; It is the hug that assures you when others are questioning your direction; It is the hug that strengthens you when you take on that new challenge; It is the hug that reminds you that 'there is no place like home'; It is the hug that sends you out with confidence to start your own home; It is the hug which began long before you were ever birthed into this world; It is the hug of umbilical knowing that embraces you with compassion in the tough days of growing up; It is the hug that wraps you in truth; It is the hug that demands the truth from you; It is the hug that dries your tears; It is the hug that lets the tears flow in peace; It is the hug that only a mother can offer and it is the hug which makes the world a better place.

Preparing for this coming Sunday's Pentecost Sunday Worship, with a Service of Word and Sacrament and Rite of Confirmation, the fact that it is Mother's Day is not lost on me. I miss my 'Mommy hugs'.

I have been blessed with rich memories of a wonderful Mother whose life is as vibrant in my heart today as it was in the moments she gathered me into her arms at every turn and, for that reason, not only on Mother's Day but, on every day, I give thanks to God for sharing her wonder with our world. I am convinced that such blessings are directly from God, whether we receive them from the one who carried and birthed us or from another who was/is to us as a mother, it is God who sets the example of nurture before those who are 'motherly'. In the ways we are embraced by those who are mother to us, we are vividly reminded of our connection to God, who has labored and birthed us in the birth waters of Baptism, who sets the Table by which we are fed, and who wraps strength and tenderness around all our days in the wisdom of One who both knows and understands what it means to have all of humanity suckle for that which gives Life. We are blessed by a Mothering God in those whose mothering reflects an intimate embracing of who God is in whom they are becoming.

I see it in my wife, the mother of our three children and grandmother to two, even as I saw it in her mother before her: Mothering is not an accident, it is the accumulated intuition and active participation in all that is God. Those who aspire to be something more than 'the old lady' in their children's lives are the ones who walk with God with a high regard and respect for who God is. Our mother's knew it and now Nancy lives it and, therein, is the grandest gift: As much as I miss my 'Mommy hugs', I am blessed to receive one every time I think of her, every time I remember her blessedness, every time I see it embodied in my own wife and her tenderness towards our children, and every time it is lived in the mothering of Bethany . . . who is teaching it to our granddaughters: A 'Mommy hug' is best remembered when it is passed on in love.

Thanks Mom, for all the 'Mommy hugs' and all the lessons of love that you shared by who you were and are for me still. Thank you for making God so real and, God, thank you for making Mom so much like You. In the gift of a loving wife who is a awesome Mom, God you pass the gift on to those who are yet to come. I see it in her eyes and feel it in her arms. May Your gift of blessed 'Mommy hugs' flow through every generation.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Don