MOTHERS DAY 2011

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

Motherhood

Some women give birth and raise children but never a mother to them. What we are talking here are real mother’s who raised their children to grow which is not measured by height, years or grade but it is marked by a sign of respect as the child learns to respond and appreciate a mother’s teaching and correction. Mother's day is a wonderful time for each of us to take a moment and honor motherhood.

Motherhood is not merely defined by the bearing and bringing up of children but is rather a statement regarding the wonderful and inspiring nature of women. All women, whether or not they bear children, can fulfill the role of mothers. If we only give superior worth as to the first great gift a mother gives her child which is love, and that love is expressed in the enduring amount of energy and time she spends teaching and nurturing her children as they grow at the loss of her freedom and denial to enjoy the supposed to be pleasure in life. What a sacrifice.  

Developing the whole child begins in the womb. As a fetus develops and grows into a baby, a mother considers how she cares for herself. She knows that her health and wellbeing will have either a positive or negative effect on the yet unborn human being. Therefore, she make it a point to voluntarily discipline herself and comes to examine what effect with regards to the food she eat, she will do, and behaves within the period of nine months just to protect the baby at her womb. But after a baby is born, a mother’s territory over which dominion is exercise is focused at home. She will be locked at the four corners of the home, fully occupied with boring, and monotonous works every day.

In spite of those sacrifices, she patiently and continuously cultivate with care and attention as homemakers and educators to the new born babe in addition to the existing children they have at home. What is sad, mothers are the only workers who do not have regular time off. There are no sick days. It's largely unpaid. All vacations are working vacations. Most of them are unsung heroes that even at the last breath of their life, they never received a respectful recognition and the worst of it, the word “I love you” coming from the heart of their children is very uncommon. The question is, how many times have you heartily said I love you to your mother?

Thus, it becomes a big argument whether, “Earning the money to put food on the table is just as important as cooking that meal and feeding it to your family. Normally, it is the husband responsibility to provide foods for the family, but when a man chooses not to be a full-time parent, it's acceptable or, at least, accepted. But when a woman decides to do of not being a full-time parent, the society she is living with will accuse her of abandonment. Is it fair and agreeable to the eyes and mind in hearing and accepting this kind of accusation?

George Washington a statesman, military leader and first president of the United States, once said, “All I am I owe to my mother.” What reasoned behind for Washington to say, “All I am I owe to my mother”? This historical declaration presents a wonderful challenge for mothers, as this unique role has a principle influence on children’s lives. The mother bears them, nurtures them; their primary education begins with her. Of the utmost importance, mothers are the positive force that shapes every new generation.

Secondly, President Washington said, “My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw.” To many people of the world today, beauty is an outward look that will catch and attract the eyes of men. But for President Washington, what he saw was not the beauty of her clothes, the way she brushed her hair, or other physical inherent characteristic of his mother. The beauty he saw was in her eyes, the doorway to her heart, her inner being. He saw the true beauty of a mother who lovingly cared for him and gave herself in selfless service. Can we say the same words as what President Washington said to her mother to our mother?

The same as we think of Hagar, being familiar on the Biblical story as merely a negative element in the whole story of Abraham and Sarah. A woman of Biblical example that when she was about to become a mother she fled from the cruelty of her mistress, intending apparently to return to her relatives in Egypt. Based on the explanations above as plainly stated and by unfolding the life story of Hagar as a mother, is motherhood a lifetime prison sentence or a lifelong journey of adventure?

To help us answer that question, may we invite you to look at the story of one mother by the name of Hagar.  We are sure most of us remember that Hagar’s story which is mutually involved with the story of Abraham and Sarah.  Sadly, we usually treat Hagar as merely a negative element in the whole story of Abraham and Sarah.  And that’s unfortunate for us, because Hagar’s story has precious lessons to teach us.  Today we will change our perspective on Hagar.

To understand the lessons from Hagar’s story, let’s forget for the moment the unfortunate circumstances in her relationship with her masters Abraham and Sarah.  Let’s focus on Hagar, as the angel of the Lord found her in Genesis 16:7-8 “Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. And He said, “Hagar, Sarah maid, where have you come from, and where are you going?” She said, “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarah.”

Notice the very interesting two-part question of the Angel of the Lord: “Hagar, Sarah’s maid, where have you come from and where are you going?”  Notice, too, the answer of Hagar: “I am fleeing from the presence of my mistress Sarah.”  Hagar answered only the first part of the Angel’s question: where she came from. Hagar did not answer the second part, where are you going? Right here, from the story of Hagar we find the first important lesson for mothers.  Motherhood confronts every mother with two questions: Where have I been? Where am I going?  Or, we may rephrase the questions: How did this baby come? Now that I have a baby, what will happen to me?

A common joke address to a man/woman to be married, “welcome to a world of continued occurrence or recurrence of arguments?” This joke becomes popular because they considered marriage as prison walls.  Let’s look at verse 7 again, Now the Angel of the Lord found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, by the spring on the way to Shur. The word Shur is very interesting.  According to Strong’s Hebrew dictionary, Shur means “wall”.  So, we may read the verse in this way: “by the spring on the way to the Wall”. Probably the city of Shur was a walled city, as was the custom of that day. In the ancient, a wall is to protect them from enemies and wild animals. On this case, walls may symbolize prison walls.

So, the Angel’s question to Hagar can mean: “Hagar, now that you have this baby, where do you think you’re going?  Are you going to prison?  In your opinion, is motherhood a lifetime prison sentence?” This is not an impossible question, is it?  Is it not true that we hear many mothers today saying that the arrival of a baby means the loss of freedom? It is the restriction of a woman’s lifestyle, limiting of her opportunities, and denial of her pleasures?  And because of the threat of loss of freedom many pregnant women exercise their freedom of choice by choosing abortion. Is this not so?

How did Hagar make motherhood a lifelong journey of adventure?  Let’s read Genesis 16:13-14: Then she called the name of the Lord who spoke to her, You Are the God Who Sees; for she said, “Have I also here seen Him who sees me?”  Through her encounter with the Lord, Hagar discovered who God was. She even coined a new name for God, to represent her very personal experience with Him:  “You are the God who sees.”  And so that she would not forget this life-changing experience, she renamed the well where God encountered her: Beer-Lahai-Roi: The well of the God who sees me.

This is probably the greatest lesson of Hagar’s story for us.  To make motherhood a lifetime journey of adventure. We must know this powerful truth Hagar experienced with God. First, God sees you.  God knows you; God knows everything about you; God knows all the past, everything that has happened, what were the circumstances that forced you to make the choices that you made which resulted in this baby.  We are not talking now about whether your choices were good or bad.  We’re only talking about the fact that God sees you.

Secondly, we need to see God.  Whether our choice were good or bad, we must see that God is love; God is merciful; God is gracious, and He is here right now offering you forgiveness for the past and presenting you with the opportunity to begin again. Thirdly, God will help you to see. God will open your eyes to see powerful truths about motherhood.

And what is this powerful truth of motherhood Hagar learned from God? Lets read Genesis 21:18 “Arise, lift up the lad and hold him with your hand, for I will make him a great nation.” The Angel commanded Hagar: “Arise, lift up the lad.” Mother, lift up your child.  Accept your baby as God’s special gift and trust placed under your care.  Accept the responsibility. Secondly, Mother, hold your child by your hand.  That’s the next command of the Angel to Hagar.  In other words, nurture and teach and guide and do all in your power to raise up your baby in the right way.

Thirdly, Mother releases your grown son/daughter to fulfill his/her destiny.  In verse 21 we read that Hagar took a wife for her son. In other words, the time came when Hagar released her son to go on and follow his destiny.  Mothers, you must never baby your children.  In our country Philippines, traditional families have a custom: grandparents and parents want to keep their children close to them; they never want their children to go away, if possible.  They will build extensions to their houses, and build extensions to the extensions, just so that everyone will live within the same compound for as long as they all live. 

We must learn the ancient lesson of the eagle. When the young eagles have become full-fledged, the parent eagles will push them off from the nest and into open space so that they would learn to fly by using their own wings. 

Mothers, this is a never ending challenge in life.  How do you want your motherhood to be: A sentence to a lifetime imprisonment or a lifelong journey of adventure?  We must choose how it will be. Hagar experienced is a good lesson to follow. Happy Mother’s Day! Bon voyage on your lifetime journey of adventure. God Bless.