Blessed Are The Mothers

Her children rise up and call her blessed;

her husband also, and he praises her:

Proverbs 31:28

Each year we celebrate the second Sunday of May as Mother’s Day. This is the day we acknowledge mothers everywhere as a special blessing to us all.

We should celebrate mothers, not just today but on every day. Motherhood is how each generation comes to be. Without mothers, none of us would even exist.

We do not need Scripture to tell us that mothers are special. Scripture does remind us, however, that mothers are indeed special, indeed blessed, indeed a blessing to us all.

The closing chapter of the Book of Proverbs is an extended homily to mothers.

The opening of the Book of Samuel describes the passion and devotion of Samuel’s mother Hannah.

When Naomi and her daughter-in-law Ruth return to Israel, after both are left widowed, it is Naomi who guides and advises Ruth, that she might gain favor with Boaz, who ultimately marries her. Through the loyalty, love, and integrity of both Naomi and Ruth came Israel’s greatest King, David, as well as the royal House that bears his name—and through which Jesus Christ came into the world.

We are reminded of the faith and sacrifice demanded of mothers when Jochebed, the mother of Moses, placed the infant Moses in a basket on the Nile, letting him float into the presence of Pharaoh’s daughter, thus saving him from Pharaoh’s decree that all Hebrew male infants should be killed. Through her willingness to put Moses’ fate in God’s hands, Moses would eventually be called to lead the people of Israel out of bondage.

When Sarah, Abraham’s wife, laughs skeptically at God’s promise that Abraham would become a father of nations, He chides her, reminding her that mothers are a part of God’s plan.

Zechari′ah, the husband of previously barren Elizabeth, was struck dumb for the duration of her pregnancy, after the angel of the Lord had to remind him of the importance of mothers to what God ordains for the world.

As an angel would then relate to Mary, it would be through her child, Jesus, that mankind would be saved and restored to God.

Without the love, the devotion, the faith, and the sacrifice of each of these mothers, the great and heroic figures of the Bible would not come to be.

We do not need Scripture to remind us that mothers are a special blessing to us all. Even so, Scripture reminds us that mothers are also indispensable to God’s plan. All that He has ordained for humanity will unfold because there are mothers raising children, bringing into being each subsequent generation.

Scripture reminds us that mothers endure trials and challenges to raise their sons and daughters well. Mothers are a blessing to us all because motherhood itself is never an easy path.

We do not exaggerate to call mothers and motherhood a miracle unto themselves.

It is from my mother teaching me to read that I developed first a love of reading, and then a love of learning. Without that gift from her I would not be writing All Facts Matter, and I would not be writing this now. All that I am today, and certainly all that is good, is a blessing I have from my mother.

So my prayer this day is a simple prayer of thanksgiving for all the mothers in the world. My prayer this day is that all mothers everywhere may know that they are a blessing to us all, that they are to be celebrated and cherished. My prayer this day is that we all may pause to remember that motherhood is its own special miracle, through which boys and girls are raised up into men and women.

To all the mothers, Happy Mother’s Day!