Bittersweet Memories

Mother's Day brings up different emotions for me. I recall the first time I got a Mother's Day card. It was the year we had found out we were going to adopt. My mom and sister gave me a card that said I was "expecting". Words I so wanted to be true in the truest sense of the word. That never came to be for me and I know the joy I felt in expecting my baby via adoption. I wondered if I could love her as much as a child that came from my body. I worried that our family would not be able to love them as they did the other kids born earlier that year. I feared rejection. I feared a lot. Then God met me in the midst of that fear. He showed me how He met Hagar in that desert and filled her up with His love and gave her all she needed. I was suddenly at peace. No matter what I would be able to handle whatever God placed before me. That I was confident of. Then came the Mother's Day that I finally got to stand up and get the applause at church as a woman of great worth that day. Wow! My heart was so pouring over with love as a new mom, but it was also tearing apart for those I knew who wanted nothing more than to stand and claim they too were worthy yet their hands were still empty. Oh, how I never forget being one of the forgotten. I pray I never do. You see, Mother's Day can be quite the bittersweet day for many of us. While we want to honor those who raised us and to be blessed by our own children honoring us, there are those who long to do both and can't for various reasons. So, I guess I am asking God to place those people on my heart so that I can reach out to them and let them know they are worthy and to stand with pride for the gift they have been given in Christ.