Mother's Day: A Time to Rejoice...A Time to Weep

 

“Motherhood is difficult…and…rewarding.” Gloria Estefan

 

  I’m not sure what happened to Gloria Estefan for her to make such a statement that “motherhood is difficult and rewarding,” yet I think most Moms can relate. Mother’s Day should be celebrated in that all of us have a Mom and your Mom with her attributes and foibles will be the only one you’ll ever have. More importantly, we believe in God’s sovereignty – God in His perfect plan gave you that Mom. It’s a principle that’s echoed throughout the pages of Scripture. 

  Yet, Mother’s Day can be a source of pain for many among us either as a parent or an adult child. It’s why at Grace we seek to approach Mother’s Day with wisdom and sensitivity. Romans 12:15 is a wonderful guide as we seek to love, encourage and minister to those around us. “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” 

  The priority of rejoicing before mourning with someone is significant. It's more difficult to rejoice with those who rejoice than mourn with those who mourn. If someone has angelic children or successful adult ones, or if someone has a Proverbs 31 Mom – well, it’s a little hard to have happiness for such people that are not tinged with a little envy, even bitterness. Our default is contaminated by self-orientation and selfishness. Whatever our measure of success and happiness, we long for and can struggle with resentment when others gain what we desire or seemingly missed out on. 

  Rejoicing with them is the greater challenge and so Scripture puts it in the first place. Self-pity is enticing. We must be continually reminded that when “You see a friend rejoicing at some good fortune, you’re to rejoice with them.” It’s a spiritual challenge. They’ve received something we’re missing and yearn to have. It needs to drive us to be dependent on the Spirit’s power because it makes great demands of unselfishness. 

  It’s far easier to mourn with those who mourn. It’s almost natural. Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones observed, “It is a most exceptional person who is not touched by the sight of someone else weeping. By nature, by constitution, the natural man or women, however bad, feels some kind of response when someone is weeping…there is something in us all that tends to respond to weeping and we are ready, as it were, to weep as well.” 

  We must commit to weeping with those who weep. In every church, there are those with a wayward child. Perhaps the child is incarcerated or enslaved by addiction. Parents did the best they knew how to raise them in a godly way but in adulthood, they spurned it. Others buried a child. Still, others struggle with infertility. For some, there’s the grief and guilt of abortion. 

  A mother-child relationship may be strained. Either there will be no Mother’s Day celebration or it’s fraught with tension. On the other side, some were raised by an abusive, absent, or addicted Mom. Mother’s Day brings back a thousand nightmares they’d rather never revisit. All of that, and much more, is why we weep with those who weep. God has called us to be compassionate, as He has shown compassion to us. 

  British financier Cecil Rhodes, whose vast fortune was used to endow the famous Rhodes Scholarships, was a stickler for proper dress, yet apparently not at the expense of someone else’s feelings. A young man invited to dine with Rhodes arrived by train and had to go directly to Rhodes’s home in his travel-stained clothes. Once there he was embarrassed to find the other guests already gathered, wearing full evening dress. After what seemed a long time Rhodes appeared, in a shabby old blue suit. Later this young man learned his host had been dressed in evening clothes, yet excused himself to put on the old suit when he heard of his guest’s dilemma. Rhodes understood what it was to weep with those who weep. 

  We must rejoice with those who rejoice. Rejoicing with those who rejoice perhaps like no other act shows we’re resting in God’s providence. One of God’s greatest blessings is the gift of a child. The birth of a child is a gift from God (Psalm 127:3). Each milestone from Kindergarten graduation to high school and perhaps college is something to be celebrated. For a Christian, our greatest joy is for that child to accept Jesus into their heart. 

  Believers have great joy seeing a young person with a desire to walk with God. Scripture brims with accounts of those with a heart for the Lord from an early age; Samuel, David, Esther, and the Lord Jesus. A beautiful child, a smart child, a talented child is diminished in comparison to a young person who passionately loves Jesus and focuses on that with eternal significance. 

  We have a responsibility to our brothers and sisters in the faith. Because every believer is a member of the body of Christ (1 Cor. 12) and partakes together of the life of our Savior, we must care for each other. There’s great power in “If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it” (1 Cor. 12:26). It’s a metaphor of Christian relationships. For example, a family in a church might have a child who is dangerously ill. The entire church family grieves. We all ask how the treatment is going and partner with them in prayer. Yet, we rejoice together when we see a young person growing in their love for the Lord and others. It’s seen in their kindness to the disenfranchised or their testimony to their classmates in the local high school. They’re known for standing for their faith. It’s a cause of mutual rejoicing. 

  We have a responsibility to a world without Christ. When Jesus came into this world He pitched His tent in a place where a dictator had sent his soldiers to kill every baby boy in a village, where religious men dragged a woman caught in adultery into His presence, asking Him to confirm their right to stone her to death. That’s the society the Son of God came into. 

  Here He went along, to join in the joys of a wedding. He even saved the day by miraculously making more wine when the supply ran out. Jesus rejoiced with those who rejoiced. Yet He also wept with those who weep. Salty tears ran down his cheeks. A family He loved to visit lost their brother, Lazarus to death. When Jesus saw the sisters weeping, He cried too. Most of those grieving weren’t His disciples, yet He wept with them. 

  What a powerful command - “Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep.” This Mother’s Day celebrate your Mom or your children! Celebrate with others! Yet, please remember to also look around for those grieving and be Jesus to them by joining them in their heartache.  

Can we help you spiritually? Can we help you know Jesus better? Please check out more resources on our church's web page, Gracechurchwi.org. Or, call us at 262.763.3021. If you'd like to know more about how Jesus can change your life, I'd love to mail you a copy of how Jesus changed my life in "My Story." E-mail me at Carson@gracechurchwi.org to request a free copy. Please include your mailing address.