Dearly Beloved,
Well! It's an odd week when I simply forget to the get the midweek done and sent. I'm sorry this is a day late. But perhaps my thoughts needed an additional day to percolate, to soak up the rain and settle into spring. I cannot tell you how grateful I am to our youth and children and to our youth and children's leaders: Sara and Daniel Gardner, Dana Stanke and Kim Leibbrand! If you missed youth Sunday, click HERE to watch the whole service. It's well worth your time. Were you blown away by Jeslyn Haux's reflection as I was? Watch it again HERE.
This Sunday, we will celebrate mothers and those who mother us. It's important going into Mother's Day weekend to acknowledge that Mother's Day is complicated. It brings many varied emotions.
Some of us longed for children, but never had any of our own. Some of us are on our own journeys or journeying with loved ones through infertility or adoption processes. Some of us have experienced miscarriage, stillbirth or the death of a child. Some of us became mothers in a planned-for way, by accident, through adoption or marriage, as foster mothers, teachers, or simply as people who have "mothered" those around us. And when we are honest, those of us who are mothers do not always love our role -- sometimes we struggle with the demands on our time, our emotional energy, our bodies, our finances, our hearts and our homes.
There are also those of us who struggle in relationship to our mothers -- who had to be mothers to our mothers, who were abandoned by our mothers, experienced neglect or abuse by our mothers or simply did not feel seen or loved by our mothers. There are those of us grieving broken relationships with our mothers and those of us grieving the passing of our mothers -- whether recent or years ago.
AND there are those of us who have wonderful relationships with our mothers or have experienced the gift of healing in relationship to our mothers. There are those of us who love being mothers and rejoice in a day when we get to be recognized for that particular role.
To say it again, Mother’s Day is complicated.
So, wherever you find yourself this Mother's Day, whether grieving or celebrating, feeling unfulfilled or thankful, I hope and pray that you find space to be. AND I encourage you to be sensitive and loving to everyone out there navigating this weekend in all its complexity!
With love and tenderness,
Thandiwe
p.s. You can watch my 2021 reflection on mothering HERE.
