Mother’s Day Message - She Glorifies the Lord

“Blessed is she who has believed that what the Lord has said to her will be accomplished!” And Mary said: "My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior, for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant…” (Luke 1: 45-48a)

Gospelcity.com Mother’s Day Message

At fourteen, I had my fair share of problems.  Yes, I dealt with acne, boys and making peace with my raging adolescent hormones.  One minute I would be sweet and yet the next ready to knock someone’s head off.  I see this often with kids in that age group and wonder how my grandparents and other adults assigned to care for me allowed me to live.  But there was one problem I did not have …

I had two friends, Cherry and Bee* (*not their real names) and both were the kindest girls to me.  You wouldn’t meet three young women more different than night and day and I suppose, Sunday afternoons.  Our friendships were restricted to high school lunchtime conversations and afterschool walks home.  Interestingly, Cherry and Bee didn’t really know one another but they had a lot in common; the friendship with me being one of those things and motherhood being the other.

Cherry had her daughter at fourteen and named me the godmother, which in hindsight was a testament to her youth and immaturity.  How would I, at fourteen, be able to take care of her child should anything happen to her?  Let’s face it; I was to be the gift giving godmother.  Thank God, Cherry lived to raise her daughter, a daughter who would eventually become a teen mother of a daughter who would become a teen mother.  By the time Cherry was in her early forties, she was a great-grandmother. 

On the other hand, Bee, who hid her pregnancy for months from her mother and family, gave birth to a daughter with all of the intentions in the world of giving her up for adoption.  That was squashed by two events: A call from an elderly aunt who told her to keep the little girl and the occasion of seeing and holding her baby, a practice generally not advocated by social workers but in this case allowed by God’s sovereign hand. 

Once Bee laid eyes on Kenni, it was love at first sight and she decided at that moment to keep the baby who gave her a renewed sense of purpose.  She will tell you that Kenni gave her a reason to live.

Bee was such a pretty girl who always dressed beautifully and with the sophistication of an older woman.  She walked with a determination and resolve not common to teenagers (me) struggling with awkwardness and goofiness.  And she talked like a grown woman with serious responsibilities, but then again, she had serious responsibilities.

After school one day, I walked home with Bee and talked my head off about crazy teenager things: boys, crushes, dances, and whatever else going on with the kids at school.  She laughed and listened but never seemed to respond to those things like I did, which I thought was amazing.  Deep down inside I wanted to be as mature as Bee but knew I had a long way to go before I could do that. 

Well, on this day, we stopped by this lady’s house and Bee picked up Kenni who was this chubby, precious baby with her mom’s dimples and coloring.  Kenni looked like a little doll.  I watched Bee tote Kenni on one hip, dangling a diaper bag over one shoulder and carrying her school books in the other arm.  Suddenly, there wasn’t much to talk about, because I’d finally seen why Bee couldn’t afford to engage my childish chatter – she had a totally different set of priorities.  Bee was not only this high school student but she was also a mother, so there was no reason to continually ask her if she was going to go to dances or parties or other events, because she wouldn’t go.  In fact, she couldn’t go.

“My mother told me that if I was grown enough to make a baby, then I was grown enough to take care of her,” Bee told me during another walk home.  “My mother won’t watch my baby and I can’t pay a babysitter.”

All of that seemed like a sin and a shame, especially as we approached senior year and Bee didn’t participate in any of the requisite, important events such as homecoming, the parties and ultimately, prom.  She did attend commencement and Kenni was sitting in the audience watching her mom receive her diploma and she’d later witness Bee receive both an undergraduate and graduate degree.

Years have passed since those days and I had the privilege of sharing my observations of Bee with Kenni during a chance department store reunion.  To her credit, Bee raised Kenni to be confident, competent and wise.  Kenni is a teacher and a licensed hairdresser, and she is in graduate school.  Moreover, Bee raised Kenni in the fear and admonition of the Lord.  The baby doll that use to straddle her mommy’s hip is now in ministry - single, childless and waiting for God’s man. 

Kenni wants to be married before having children and I’m not mad at her for that – neither is Bee.  Bee, in fact, is proud of her daughter and grateful to God.

The beauty of Kenni and Bee’s story is that neither allowed and will not allow the circumstances of Kenni’s birth to dictate the course of their destinies or the direction their lives have taken. 

So what if two teens experimenting sexually became parents during a time when it was not considered commonplace to have a baby out of wedlock.  So what if her parents never married one another. 

Something special happened inside of Bee and Kenni’s hearts that enabled them both to move past their circumstances to embrace God’s plan for their lives.  God said that Kenni had a future and a hope and if it took two teens to bring her here, then so be it.  God said that Bee had a future and hope and if it took the birth of Kenni to draw her to it, then so be it.

The debate on teen motherhood is long and wide.  We condemn and we condone it.  Yet at the end of the day the babies born through these mothers have the same future and hope as Kenni and even children born in wedlock.  At the end of the day it really doesn’t matter if a child comes here as the product of a relationship out of wedlock, in wedlock, as an unplanned pregnancy, a planned pregnancy, the product of rape or abuse and in poverty. 

At the end of the day, it doesn’t even matter if a Child is born of a virgin.

The Child born of a virgin, during a time far worse in receiving children out of wedlock than the time Kenni was born, had a future and a hope – a destiny to fulfill that would ultimately benefit Kenni and even me, also born out of wedlock.  The Child, born to a teen mother who was every bit as confused, embarrassed and possibly uncertain as Bee, grew up beyond the circumstances of His birth to save the world.  The virgin or mother of the Child had the privilege, like Bee with Kenni, of ushering Him to His destiny.

God entrusted Bee to care for Kenni properly, which gave her life more meaning.  By the same token, God entrusted Mary, the virgin, to care for His Son, which without question gave her life more meaning. 

Over the years I’ve addressed almost every aspect of motherhood for Mother’s Day.  This year I salute mothers like my friend Bee and children like Kenni.  In doing so, I am not endorsing having children out of wedlock but rather celebrating the fact that their lives have purpose, value and worth.  Isn’t that the true essence of motherhood?

Does that explain why God has placed a high value on motherhood in all of its forms?  I think so.  Happy Mother’s Day!