PLYMOUTH – Women enter motherhood in many different ways including fostering, adoption, miscarriage, and spiritual influence.
Just mentioning the name Mother brings a flood of memories to my mind. Childhood memories of how proud I was of my beautiful Mother and how I wanted to be like her, and look like her.
How she lovingly cared for me the many times I was ill, or just skinned my knees and needed a “special” bandage. I will never forget the big smiles and applause I received whenever I accomplished something challenging in my life, and especially how she faithfully taught me that Jesus loved me and died for me.
My experience of being a mother looked much different than the mother of my memories. She was so feminine, graceful and hospitable, and taught her daughters how to be a lady.
I had the privilege of rearing two pretty amazing sons. When their tiny little hands closed around my finger for the first time all the discomfort of being pregnant and giving birth to them quickly faded away into some misty memory as they captured my heart. In the beginning, being a “boy mom” was very scary to me; I had no clue how to bring up a boy.
It took a lot (and I mean a lot) of prayer, not because they were difficult, but because I didn’t want to get it wrong. I got many things wrong, but loving them was not one of them. Letting them go into adulthood was a whole different feeling. In the blink of an eye, they were teenagers and then in another blink, I watched them walk down the aisle with their new beautiful brides. A piece of me was ripped out knowing they no longer needed me like they did when they were younger.
As life has progressed and I found myself getting older I now find myself in a new arena of life. Grandmother!
Those two amazing sons gave me 5 of the most beautiful granddaughters a GeeGee could ever dream of having. They have brought pure joy into my life.
As all children declare the funniest sayings, mine were no exception. One day Sarah piped up and said, “GeeGee, we’re just alike! Except you're strict.” Abby told me, “GeeGee, you should dress up like a witch for Halloween since you have the witch laugh down.” Or when Abby announced I was her second favorite, after her dog Oscar. And when Sarah walked into my closet and matter of factly said, “GeeGee, your closet looks like a mall – except there isn’t any popcorn or pretzels in it.”
Then there was the time during Christmas my oldest granddaughter Kailyn, who was 2 1/2 years old at the time, said all she wanted for Christmas was a “pink” present. It didn’t matter what was in the wrapping as long as it was a “pink” present. She loved everything she received with a childlike wonder. She even slept that night with her Cinderella ornament, and then the next night with her Cinderella wand, and the following night she slept all evening in her Cinderella fuzzy house slippers.
Just like my little granddaughter’s fun and good gifts at Christmas, God gives us good gifts every day. And whether you are a mother by giving birth, adoption, fostering, grandparenting or a spiritual parent to someone, you and I have been given the gift and responsibility to encourage and “provoke” others toward a godliness that results in tangible transformation. As Hebrews 10:24 tells us, we are the provokers of great love and good works.
Hebrews 10:24 says, “And let us watch out for one another to provoke love and good works.”
Below is one of my favorite quotes on motherhood, though I’m not sure of the source. I pray it is an encouragement to you and reminds us all of the privilege and high calling of being a mother.
"Motherhood is a choice you make every day to put someone else's happiness and well-being ahead of your own, to teach the hard lessons, to do the right thing even when you're not sure what the right thing is... And to forgive yourself over and over again, for doing everything wrong." – Donna Hall
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Sabrina Patterson is the wife of Tim Patterson, Executive Director/Treasure of the Baptist State Convention of Michigan. She is mother to Micah Joel and Aaron Paige, and Grammie to Kailyn, Sarah, Abby, Jordan and Avery.