40 Days 40 Gifts Day 11

I’m not sure if I cheated today or not. I’ll let you be the judge. I flew back to Jozi from Cape Town today and so the day was a little rushed - finishing up the work that had to be done, seeing who I needed to see and finding my way to the airport on time. I found myself sitting on the plane wondering what I was going to give and where to fit it in between being collected from the airport and cooking dinner for my parents.

So I’ve decided that what I gave today was a really nice meal and quality time with my family.

Does it count? Especially given that my mother (when I was living at home) cooked pretty much every day for me?

This got me thinking about how much my mother (and many other mothers) gives each and every day. Each day for my mother was about preparing breakfast for us each morning (and still for my dad), making sure we had lunch packed, preparing dinner for us, most evenings washing dishes if one of us didn’t take that off her hands, and then going back to work in the evenings in order to prepare for the next day (she’s a teacher). Can I really call my gift of a meal a gift when mothers (and some fathers) do this everyday of their lives as part of their role as mother?

This thought highlighted something for me: Mothers are essentially gifts to their children and family. They are gift giving – giving their bodies to create and bear life, giving careers to care for children, giving energy each day to bring up children, giving time to making sure houses are in order, and children and spouses are fed and clothed. So many mothers put themselves second, always giving of themselves to their family. Perhaps being a mother is a journey in giving. Perhaps our mothers have more to teach us than we know.

Perhaps we are totally mistaken in identifying with God as a Father. Perhaps we would find ourselves closer to God’s nature of eternal giving if we were to connect with her as Mother.

LESSON 11: Mothers are angels…