When Mother’s Day Hurts
By Sheryl Boldt
It’s been a few weeks since Mother’s Day. Seeing photos of happy moms with their happy families popping up on Facebook always stings – but every year when Mother’s Day comes around, the idyllic images hurt all the more.
You’ve avoided Facebook for awhile. Maybe now you can cautiously venture back – yet your pain doesn’t stop just because Mother’s Day has passed.
For as long as you can remember, you’ve longed to have children of your own. Or maybe you would have given anything if you could’ve told your mother, “Happy Mother’s Day” one more time. Or you miss your mom every day because she’s serving our country in the military – or serving time in prison.
Perhaps you used to look forward to Mother’s Day, but now your prodigal child doesn’t seem to love you all that much. The phone is deafeningly silent as you stare at the hastily-scribbled signature on the one-size-fits-all greeting card that arrived in the mail last week.
And for the mom who, in spite of every mother-fiber in your being, made the difficult choice to give your child a chance for a better life, not a day goes by that you don’t wonder what your child is doing with their adoptive parents.
Maybe the simple sad fact is that your relationship with your mother is lacking. So, so lacking.
What can you do today to help take away the ache – or at least, lessen it?
2 Corinthians 1:3-4 (ESV) offers compassion and a way to find healing in the midst of your pain. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction, so that we may be able to comfort those who are in any affliction, with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God.”
I want to encourage you to embrace the comfort your heavenly Father offers.
Then, after you’ve experienced healing, or as a way to further your healing, ask God to use you in someone else’s life. Your pastor or a trusted community leader probably knows a young lady who could use a mentor or an elderly lady who could use a friend. You’ll be amazed at the many different ways you can comfort others with the same comfort you’ve received from God. By doing so, you’ll not only experience the satisfaction that comes from giving of yourself, but you may also find continued healing, comfort, and peace – even in the depths of your desolation.
Sheryl H. Boldt is the author of the blog, www.TodayCanBeDifferent.net. You can reach her at [email protected].