Mother's Day?

What do you do when there are two mothers in the house on Mother’s Day?  Who gets breakfast in bed?  Who gets treated like a queen?  More accurately – unless your child or children are swept away by a grandparent, who gets a break?

Well, not us.  We exchanged sweet cards and our son brought home flowers in a pot he painted a school, but after church it was still “all about the kid” even though it was Mother’s Day.  I kept telling our son, “Every day we do what you want to do and dote on you.  One day a year, it’s time to do what mommies want to do and for you to dote on us.”  He just didn’t get it.  Frankly, I was bitter although my partner handled it better.

Isn’t Mother’s Day supposed to be wonderful, perfect, delightful, amazing?  Well, much like other holidays and parenthood in general – it’s busy and messy and not the ideal you see or read about.  The sooner we admit this to ourselves and accept it, the better we’ll be and the happier our families will be.

My day on Saturday, which was my birthday, and Sunday, which was Mother’s Day, reminds me of Jesus on the boat.  After taking care of people’s needs, he withdrew by boat to a secluded place.  Clearly, he needed some “me time.”  However, the crowds heard where he was headed and met him there.  Jesus had compassion for them and healed their sick and then fed the 5,000.

Now, I don’t heal the sick or feed 5,000, but like Jesus being a Mom means I’m never “off duty.”  Our son is very blessed to have two moms who are overachievers.  So when I need to take a nap or my partner needs a break, we get those.  It’s just not for long.  It’s not for long, because our little guy needs us and wants to be with us.  He wants us to play basketball with him and ride bikes with him and play Candyland with him.

We are wanted and needed.  It is a wonderful thing.  As parents, we can look to Jesus who did much more than ride a bike with a child and know that parenthood is a gift.  It is a gift to be wanted and needed.  Even when it’s Mother’s Day or Father’s Day and we would like a break, we are still wanted and needed.

So, happy parenthood to you all.

Lauren Boyd 
Director of Programming and Membership at PHUMC
Partner to Candi and Mother to Miller who is 5 1/2