Just some early morning thoughts from me to you…
“But Mary treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart.” Luke 2:19 (ESV)
“And His mother treasured up all these things in her heart.” Luke 2: 51b (ESV)
She was sobbing uncontrollably as she walked out of her bedroom into the family room one Mother’s Day evening a number of years ago.
Our elder Granddaughter, Hannah, then eight years old, was beyond consolation.
Mother’s Day was coming to an end and in the busyness of the day Hannah had forgotten, until now at the end of the day, to give her Mimi the card she had worked so hard to prepare.
As Lynda took into her hand the one-of-a-kind original card from her precious Hannah, she read the words—
“I [heart] U Mimi”—
With a picture drawn below that expression of her love for her Mimi, of figures meant to be Mimi and Hannah hugging each other.
After reading the card quietly to herself, then aloud, Lynda took Hannah into her arms, holding her now calmer Granddaughter also in the space in her heart which only a granddaughter could fill and bathed her over-and-over in those same words—
“I love U Hannah. I love you.”
Remembering all of that, my thoughts returned to moments seared in my memory from many years earlier, of Lynda and our then 2-year-old son, Nathan, sitting together on the floor reading book after book; walking through the yard smelling flower after flower together; comforting him when he climbed out of his crib simply needing to be nearer our voices; or “chit-chatting” together on the bed during one of his breaks from college; and thousands of other similar moments between a mother and her son.
Moments which Lynda still treasures in her heart.
Memories held forever in the spaces in her heart only her son can occupy.
It is clear, that Mothers like Jesus’ mother Mary, and Lynda (Mimi), and Lynda’s mom, and Amy, the mother of our two Granddaughters, and other mothers we know, paint the picture of the mother God intended and created when He planned it all.
Mothers who have a space forever in their hearts the exact shape and size of each child God places into their lives.
A space which fills up with time spent together, talks, touches, tears, and accomplishments. Moments and events that Mothers like those I mentioned above wish would occur time-after-time.
Spaces which remain filled to the brim, even when their child grows and journeys out on their own, or are not as available as they once were, or forget when they shouldn’t. Spaces which grieve with sorrow when a child is lost, loses their way, or forgets how wonderfully created they are.
Mothers with a space in their hearts which defers and sacrifices their own stuff and roads to personal advancement, and their own pleasures, comforts, dreams, and opportunities—for those of every child God has entrusted into their lives.
A space full of a never-ending love, commitment, and care Chris Janson sings of in his song “Bye Mom,” where he shares this—
“And you don’t know you’re somebody,
That somebody loves more than themselves.”
Only in a Mother’s heart.
Forever in a Mother’s heart.
Thank God for—The Love of a Mother’s Heart.
In His Name–Scott
Watch, listen, be deeply blessed, and reminded to not waste a moment, as you also shed a tear listening to Chris Janson sing his song “Bye Mom.”
