The best family reunion ever

It’s Mother’s Day in America….one day a year when we give special honor to that one woman within whose very body we began life. A woman who, in most cases, loved us deeply and sacrificed much for our welfare.

For many of us, myself included, this day will mean honoring and remembering a mom who can no longer be seen or spoken to. She may have passed on many years ago, or her voice and scent still linger and we catch ourselves dialing her number before we remember that she is gone.

When a parent dies, we may feel like the connection to our past is broken, and the future we had expected is swiftly and summarily upended and destroyed. And if that parent is relatively young, we may feel abandoned as well.

No good mom or dad wants to be unreachable when their children need them, no matter how old they are. I vividly remember when my youngest son went with his grandma to spend the night at a friend’s cottage on Lake Erie when he was about 6 or 7 years old. After arriving he decided he did not want to stay and called my cell phone to ask me to come and get him. I did not hear it ring so he left a tearful message that just tore at my heart when I heard it. There’s still an ache when I think about not being there when he needed me.

I was reunited with my son that evening, but many sons and daughters today are missing a mom or dad who can’t come and get them or listen to them or share in a family celebration. And they feel cheated. This one who has always been there is now nowhere to be found.

When we grieve for a loved one, we are usually grieving for ourselves over what we have lost…time we could have spent together, life’s joys and sorrows shared, the blessing of love given and received. But in God’s kingdom, our grief can be matched and surpassed by joy over what our loved one has gained…everlasting life and peace, freedom from sin, sorrow, and pain, and eternal rewards in His presence. And the sure hope of being reunited with them someday.

I have that hope of being reunited with my mother and father someday, as well as a dear brother who died suddenly a few months ago. They submitted to Jesus as Lord and Savior and as a result were adopted into His family. We have a pretty swell family reunion at our place every summer, but I know it can’t compare to the party that awaits us in Heaven.

I pray that if a loved one of yours has been taken away in death, you look to the Giver of life for the comfort only He can give. And if you are one of those very special women we celebrate today…a very happy Mother’s Day to you.