Matthew 11:28  (NLT) “Then Jesus said, “Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.”
The holiday affectionately known as Mother’s Day originated in 1905 by a woman whose mother was ironically absent at the time of the idea, due to her death. When I first sat down to write this piece, I had no knowledge of that. I just wanted to know a little bit about the person who came up with the idea, so I googled it. When Anna Jarvis first proposed the idea as a holiday, her thought process at the time was that a “mother is the person who has done more for you than anyone in the world”. At no time in my life has this been more obvious to me than this past weekend as I encountered my first Mother’s Day without my Mom. 

The more I went about trying to establish some sort of new normal for my siblings and I regarding this unchartered territory, the more this 51-year-old woman began to feel like a lost little girl inside. I was happy for other people who still had their mothers with them and wanted in some strange way to allow them to feel what my siblings and I were feeling, so that they would truly know how vital it is to optimize the time they have left with their own mothers.
My beautiful mother left us just 9 months ago, and sometimes I still feels like it is a bad dream and that she will call me as she did countless days before from childhood throughout adulthood, starting out with that all familiar “Hey Baby”. But nope! There would be no call because there are no telephones in Heaven ☹. And it’s funny, although I have voicemails that I purposely saved for when this day would inevitably come, my heart didn’t have the strength to listen to them on Mother’s Day. Mrs. Juanita Fox or “Momma Fox” as she was so affectionately known, was painfully absent, and even the thought of being in church, a place where she loved to be every time the doors opened; A place where I knew there would be breakfast, gifts and a full service dedicated to honoring mothers, I just didn’t want to be there. I didn’t want to be where I’d previously shared those times with my “Honey-bun”, sitting on her unofficial yet official 2nd row seat. I didn’t have the ability to mask my broken heart with a feigned smile of happiness while others posed for pictures with their moms. I didn’t need to be a minister, a mentor, or even a mother that day, for in all actuality, I just wanted MY mother. I never thought I’d feel that way. I always thought I’d be able to just focus on being grateful for my mom and for my children.

But what God taught me this Mother’s Day, as I visited 2 homes of women that my mom had previously adopted as daughters, is that my absent from the body Mother is still very present with me. I can’t touch her physically, but the lives of those she has touched showed up in ways that did wonders for my sisters and I that left indelible imprints all over our broken hearts. From the love we could taste in the food they cooked, to the pictures of my mom and sayings about family all over the walls, it was completely evident that my Mom’s unique way of loving people was sprinkled everywhere. And as crazy as it sounds, I could feel her in every room of their peaceful, warm, inviting homes. 

  So, I learned that the Lord has many ways of comforting our hearts. The way He comforts you may be different from how He comforts me, but comfort you He will if you’ll only seek Him for it. Mother’s Day ended for me with my sisters and I holding my God-daughter’s miracle baby in our arms. A baby that my mother had prayed so fervently for was now here with us, and it all just felt like God was bringing things full circle with this kind of joy banishing away my grief from earlier that day.
Later that night as I slept, I had a dream and in the dream both my parents were very much alive and oh so vibrant! They were smiling brightly and with excitement as their coffins were being placed in a house instead of in the ground. When I asked why, they told me it was because God had given them permission to stay here with us! I remember the joy I felt in knowing they weren’t going to leave me, and it all seemed so real and not like a dream at all. How kind is our God that the one who controls the universe, would come into my dreams to remind me that the love my parents gave to me is always with me, just like His is. As I close I’d like to pray for those of you whose moms are absent, because even though the official holiday to honor mothers is over, the ache and the void you feel in your heart, is never over. The Lord just helps you to deal with it day by day and moment by moment if you ask Him to.  
Closing Prayer: Father I pray for all those who for whatever reasons have Mothers that are absent. I pray that as they bring their heavy hearts to you, you would exchange with them and give them a heart of thanksgiving for that which they do have and give them the ability to have intentional gratitude for those things. I pray that you will remind them that your unique way of loving us can soothe every type of heartache that exists, and you will always prove yourself to be the 4th man in the fire, never leaving us and never forsaking us. In Jesus’ name Amen.