Happy Mother’s Day!
First, I hope that every mother and every woman in our church, whether you’ve been here for 20 minutes or 20 years – always feels safe, valued, cared for, and honored in our presence. Not because of what you can do or what you can provide, but simply because you bear the image of your Creator, who treasures you and purposefully created you to be the unique individual that you are.
Mothers, and women in general, are often burdened with tons of expectations. Expectations on how they look, how they talk, what their interests should be, plus expectations around career, marriage, and parenthood. And for some women, the traditional expectations of womanhood just don’t resonate. Maybe you don’t have a career like Oprah, and maybe you don’t host like Martha Stewart. And that’s OK.
Maybe you don’t see much of yourself in “the Proverbs 31 woman.” Well, perhaps instead you’re a Judges 4 woman!
The story in Judges 4 includes two women: Deborah and Jael. They did some incredible things, things that might not be considered traditionally “feminine.” But they did what God called them to.
In 2 Timothy 1, Paul reminds Timothy to keep his focus on the fundamentals – the faith he was taught by his mother and grandmother, the gift of God that he received, and the purpose and plans God has ultimately called him to.
My hope this Mother’s Day is that all of the women in our church remember to differentiate between culture’s expectations and God’s expectations.
Ladies…what is it that God is calling you to, in both the general sense as a woman, and in the specific sense of your own life?
I pray that you’ll take time every so often to review the things you’re invested in, and the expectations you’re seeking to meet. Are they the things God is calling you to?
And men of God – husbands, fathers, brothers, and sons – as our women seek to walk in God’s calling for them, may they feel our hand on their back, encouraging and helping them to take the next step in that calling.