I haven't posted in awhile. Not because THIS isn't important, but because it IS IMPORTANT. No, it is not the most important thing. Of course not. I would be hard-pressed and bring much grief upon myself if I were to think so.
"Being in love is a good thing, but it is not the best thing. There are many things below it, but there are also things above it. You cannot make it the basis of a whole life. It is a noble feeling, but it is still a feeling." C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity (Here, Lewis is discussing marriage, beginning from the premise of falling 'in love'.)
But, there is a word God has put on my heart and I would/will be consumed with Holy Fire if I did not share it. What is the important thing is that we think rightly about roles and the people in them. We each are flawed and ruined, though we can find favor in God's grace. This Mother's Day, every Mother's Day, is for every single woman who despite her flaws and insecurities and trepidations chose and chooses to stand up and be a parent, the best parent that she can be. That's it. It's about grace and love and forgiveness. Bio-Mom is not better than Step-Mom, and Step-Mom is not better than her. We are not better than Adopted-Mom or Lesbian-Mom or White-Mom or Black-Mom. We are all MOM.
If you are Mom and you are trying--you are mom. Everyday I try endowed by the grace God gives me. He has honored and blessed me. So, I pray away bitterness and contempt and jealousy and dissensions.
Thank you to all the parents who have worried and prayed and paid...and I'm not just talking about money.
Thank you.
And to the children, whose lives I was elected to influence, I hope you know simply that YOU ARE LOVED, first by God and after that know that you are loved and seen by many. And this matters. Yes, it does. Because this world is cruel and cold and calculating. But, LOVE--adults and children--is not dead.
"Being 'in love' first moved them to promise fidelity: this QUIETER LOVE [my emphasis] enables them to keep their promise." C.S. Lewis
Let's take this further. God is speaking always about this/that LOVE; love as a force, an entity, alive in our hearts as we entreat vulnerability and sacrifice.
"If I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing." 1 Corinthians 13:2
"Let all that you do be done in love." 1 Corinthians 16:14
