Mother’s Day Mess

The first Mother’s Day after my first miscarriage, I skipped church and slept in.

I get to celebrate Mother’s Day now, but it wasn’t always that way. I remember when we were trying to have kids, how much I wanted to celebrate the Mamas around me, but it always felt like getting too close to a jellyfish. You can’t see the beauty and not feel the sting.

As we near another Mother’s Day, I hope that it finds you well. I hope that the prayers you’ve prayed have been answered and that the unanswered ones are still full of hope as you speak them.

But if not, that’s okay too. I wish I could pour you a cup of coffee and hear your story. I wish I could pray over you for whatever it is that makes this Mother’s Day difficult. I wish that I could make you a pot roast and hand you a glass of wine.

Pot roast and wine fix all the things.

If that’s you, don’t feel guilt or shame about skipping Mother’s Day weekend. Treat yo’ self to a fine cup of coffee and your favorite croissant and don’t feel bad about it for one second. 

Sometimes self care looks like healthy boundaries and knowing what’s good, and not good, for us.

The truth is, life is hard and confusing and following Jesus doesn’t make it any easier. Church guilt trip is real, and going to church is not a mandate. Yes, community is important. Yes, hearing the teaching’s of Jesus matters. But it’s not all that matters.

If sitting through a Mother’s Day service sounds like getting a thousand paper cuts, then don’t go. I don’t know much, but I do know that God is faithful to us, with or without our Mother’s Day service attendance.

Listen. My story wasn’t written the way I preferred it to be, and I’m guessing yours hasn’t been either. But no matter how our story unfolds, God is good in it.

The mess is what makes the beauty shine.

I can see how God has turned all of my grievances and all of my hurt, and in time, created deep joy because of them. That’s His promise to us. (See Romans 8.)

And I skipped Mother’s Day more than once.

Whatever your story, Happy Celebrate-Yourself Weekend.

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