“Happy Mother’s Day!”
It’s a phrase you will hear in homes and churches around the country this coming Sunday. The idea seems simple enough: To dedicate one day out of the year to honor and celebrate the women who have mothered children.
“Why would we celebrate mothers?” you ask. For starters, everyone had a mother. Whether that mother stayed with her children or not, each one of us came into this world because of a mother.
But let’s be honest, for the vast majority of us, it wasn’t just the fact that our mothers decided to carry us to full term and to give birth. The amplified sacrifice of mothering takes place day in and day out. Our mothers nurtured, fed, bandaged and soothed us. Our mothers explained, instructed and corrected us. Our mothers stayed up late tending and hugging us when we had fevers or pacing and praying when we weren’t back by curfew.
Our mothers gave up their preferences and comforts, so we might grow up and have what we need to be functional, healthy people.
To repeat, Mother’s Day is one day out of the year when we celebrate and honor mothers. It all seemed simple enough, and it was. Until it wasn’t.
Several years ago, the disclaimers started. I would hear things like this, “What about the women who aren’t mothers?” My thoughts were, “Today is not for them.”
Unfortunately, it wasn’t an isolated event. Time and again, I would hear about “diversifying” Mother’s Day to include spiritual mothers, women who wanted to but never became mothers and women who “mothered” their pets.
This past Sunday, I heard a pastor declare that on Mother’s Day we should celebrate not just the mothers, but all women and even get gifts for our young daughters, because, well, I guess Mother’s Day is just too exclusive of an idea.
If you are a thinking person, you can see what is happening: Mother’s Day is going away.
It’s too exclusive and too limiting. “Woke” culture has taught us that if we celebrate one group, class or person, we might make everyone else feel bad. Another way of putting it would be to say we can’t give mothers a trophy without making the rest of humanity feel left out.
But wasn’t that the point?
Mothers deserve to be honored. They are special. They are unique. They are praiseworthy, and they should be celebrated. We don’t demean childless women when we celebrate those who took the long, hard road of mothering. We don’t demean anyone when we celebrate someone else. We are simply celebrating that person.
My appeal to churches, pastors and leaders is this: Please don’t succumb to another form of woke culture, victim mindsets and concerns for emotional welfare. Celebrate mothers this Sunday—and only mothers They are unique, and they are special. We would all do well to practice being thankful for mothers without letting the wounded and needy among us sap what should be a special day for moms.
This Sunday is Mother’s Day. Let’s focus on celebrating moms. Resist the temptation to draw away from those we are celebrating in order to appease or appeal to those we aren’t. Let’s give “honor to whom honor is due (Rom. 13:7b) and celebrate the woman in our life we call “Mom.” {eoa}
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