Today is Mothering Sunday – and as many maxims remind us, motherhood is often a bittersweet affair! (‘The joy of motherhood is best experienced when the children are in bed….’) All of us have had mothers, but our experiences will all be different, not to mention there are those who mother others even if they have not given birth to children themselves.
Mothers have a bond with their children which God alludes to in Isaiah 49:15 when he says, ‘Can a mother forget the baby at her breast and have no compassion on the child she has borne? Though she may forget, I will not forget you!’ God describes himself as both a mother and a father and shows us what the perfect parent looks like. He never gives up on His children. He sacrifices for us – He gives us Himself.
God does not forget us and longs for us to know Him. He waits for us to return to Him and cares for us at all times. As we spend today giving thanks for our mothers and remembering those who have had that special mentoring role in our lives, let’s remember also the God who cares for us as tenderly as any mother.