Happy Mother’s Day to all the Moms!

You’re very, very special!

I wrote and posted the following two years ago.  And I posted it last year.

So, here I am again posting my simple little tribute to moms. If you like it, share it with a mom.

MOM

Some governments use the word “ministry” to describe various functions, like ministry of finance, or ministry of education. The word “ministry” means service. Therefore, the minister of education would be one who serves the country with regards to education.

I believe being a mom is a ministry, a very, very unique service.

No woman can ever study hard enough or prepare long enough to be ready to be a mom. Moms surely need God’s gracious help and encouragement with the responsibilities and challenges.

It actually begins nine months before she is even officially called “Mom.” For nine months she serves with her own body; every day, she carries and nourishes. And, on top of that, her own body grows and grows until the day of the birth! For nine months she literally gives her own body in service.

Then comes the birth itself – one of the the toughest physical jobs a human being can do! And once labor is completed and the new baby arrives in the world, then the service really begins.

Mom begins the constant care for that completely helpless child, even feeding the baby from her own body! Those precious days, for both mom and baby, turn into weeks and months as the little baby begins to grow.

Soon, the little child begins to have some mobility – at first just squirming, then rolling over, and eventually crawling. And then comes the first big step, literally, and the child is now walking and words are coming out of the mouth of this little human being.

Involved in it all is the woman we call “Mom,” teaching, helping, guiding, directing, feeding, holding, loving and caring for this growing child.

And it continues, week after week, month after month, and year after year. As the child grows, Mom continues to minister, now teaching the child right from wrong, as well as a million other things.

Finally, one morning, her child is headed to school and Mom gets a break, sort of. Really, just some time to regroup and prepare for the next phase of being a minister to this child.

Outside influences will often carry diverse opinions about important issues Mom previously taught her child. Mom now ministers by answering questions and helping her child to be logical. She teaches the child God’s Word, which will keep her child on solid ground in a shaky and often confusing world.

In her heart Mom knows God is real, and His Word is true. But she also knows the day will come when her precious child will have to make up his or her own mind. Even though Mom knows her child may some day take another path, she continues faithfully ministering.

The day for her child to make all his or her own decisions is not here yet, and so Mom continues to do her best, loving and guiding and ministering.

The years roll by and the day finally arrives when the child leaves home, and heads out into the world. It is a day of tears: tears of joy her child is grown, tears of sadness knowing she will be apart from someone she has ministered to every day for so many years.

What life will this young person make? What choices? What decisions? Mom knows and has taught her child that choices have consequences, but she also knows she is not going to be there every day anymore.

And so, the next phase of ministering begins for Mom: a friendship relationship as a sister in Christ, ready, if asked, to counsel, lots of prayer, and always, always the love of God.

Ministering moms know, understand and practice the love of God. Her door is never locked; her arms are always open for hugs, in the good times and in the not so good. Her heart, even when hurt, is always full of unconditional love.

And regardless of how old Mom gets, she will always be ministering to her child, some way, somehow, until her last breath. All this, and so much more, is why being a mom is a great ministry, a very, very unique service.