When I was a young minister's wife I dreaded Mother's Day. In our church, as in most churches, we honored the oldest mothers, the youngest mothers and the mothers with the most kids. Because, apparently, this was something to be proud of. Every Mother's Day we started with the process of elimination. And the same two ladies would stand up and argue about who was the oldest. Everybody knew they were born in the same year - two months apart.
Then the same process was started for the youngest mom. Occasionally, when the winner was 17, or younger, I would quietly go berserk.
Of course, since it was my busy season of popping out babies from time to time, I would sometimes win the prize for the MOST children. Beyond humiliating!
Times have changed. We no longer measure motherhood in this inane way. There are good moms and terrible moms and everything in between. I was sometimes all of these on the same day.
This morning, in my church, my minister, Jayne, did a different take on Proverbs "Ideal Wife." It was great. But prior to that she asked every female in the congregation to stand up. She mentioned girls and women, married and single, moms or not. Then she let us know how much God values us. Just like we are.
It's not a contest.
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