Today as we continue our series on Healthy Relationships, we cannot skip the importance of having Healthy Family Dynamics.
Whether you are single, married, living with roommates, or living on your own, your family of origin and extended family shape you in good ways and sometimes in harmful ways.
And we acknowledge that Mother’s Day can be hard. For some of us we are longing have a child and have not experienced that yet or we may have recently lost our Mom or we have a difficult relationship with our Mom.
In the Scriptures, we discover some of the attributes a Mom can bring to our lives.
Isaiah 66:13 says: “As one whom his mother comforts, so I will comfort you.”
A healthy Mom can bring comfort.
Proverbs 31:25-26 says: “She is clothed with strength and dignity; she can laugh at the days to come. She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.”
A healthy Mom can bring strength, dignity, laughter, wisdom, and kindness.
Mary, the mother of Jesus was described like this in Luke 2:51: “And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.”
A mother can see things in her children no one else may be able to see quite yet.
One of my favorite verses about motherhood is actually about a chicken. When looking out over the city, Jesus could see the people were hurting and hopeful yet woefully stubborn. I can just imagine tears in his eyes, when he said: “Many times I wanted to gather your people as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you would not let me.” – Luke 13:34
A healthy Mom protects us, gathers us together, hugs us, nurtures us.
If you have not experienced a healthy version of what a mom could be, just remember, your Mom may not have either. She may have been just the very best she knew how to be.
Even still, God can meet those needs your Mom may not have been able to meet. Even the greatest Moms cannot be there for us all the time (although some of them may try!). Lean into your faith, lean into community, keep the best things you learned from your Mom, and add to it what she may have missed.
It’s important to say here on Mother’s Day, even for all of us who are not Moms, this message is still for you. We all have been given the power to influence those around us whether at work, in our friend group, or in our community.
So today we have something special – a panel of Moms from almost all of our Austin area campuses will share wisdom for all of us to help us create healthier dynamics in our relationships.
So let’s listen with an open heart and open mind.
