For My Favorite Girls

In my life, there are girls I go on road trips with every single day, but they aren’t my girlfriends. They bear a title infinitely more precious: they are my three daughters. I am their primary bus driver to their three different middle schools and mind-numbing number of activities, so we spend a LOT of “quantity time” together on the road.

Most days, I cherish the countless talks with my young hostages on these road trips. Remember the book, “All I Really Need to Know I Learned in Kindergarten”? I hope one day they will say that all they really need to know they learned in the van with Mom. We talk about everything under the sun. But on every trip, I try to point us in this direction:

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when your rise.” Deuteronomy 6:4-7

My personal version of this passage adds: “I will talk with you about God’s love on the best of days, like when the rainbow was arching over the highway and on the worst ones when everyone ignored you at school. I will share with you about the perfect love of God when I’m a great mother with the sweet note tucked in your lunch box and when I’m the worst mother who was harsh and hormonal. I will point you to Jesus when you see your parents part with a tender hug and kiss and when we huff off with hurt feelings and a slammed door. God is our True North. In this ever changing world, set your life compass on Unchangeable Him.”

In honor of Mother’s Day, I dedicate this post to Lily, Grace and Hope. A day will come when I won’t be here for you, but the best, most comforting news of all, is that Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you. I pray that my immense, imperfect love will inspire you to seek His immeasurable, perfect love for each one of you.

And, if ever you want to see a video that captures what your Mom tried to learn, live, and share with others, push play for “The Hidden Person of the Heart.” (Chapter 9 of The Cry of the Hidden Heart.) You’ll agree that I am the least likely candidate for teaching the virtue of having a gentle and quiet spirit. It just goes to show that God is still in the miracle business!

Thank you for the privilege of being your mother.

Mother’s Day is a poignant, and for many, a painful day. I remember the anguish I felt on this day during our years of infertility. I think of my niece and nephew and the countless others whose mothers are no longer alive. If this is a hard day for you, we pray that the Holy Spirit will bring comfort as only He can. God’s word says that we can be spiritual mothers, regardless of whether or not we are biological mothers in Isaiah 54:1. This year, let’s celebrate how we can be a life giver to the many who are spiritually motherless in our midst. That’s what the Hidden Heart Ministry is all about.

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