I know Mothers Day has passed and is not due for another eleven months, but with all the recent talk about abortion, I wanted to take a moment to re-celebrate mothers.

Mothers come in five basic varieties.

First, there are the mothers who want to be mothers . . . and can be. They welcome their pregnancies and look forward to the prospect of motherhood. They either sacrifice their careers forever, or for a time, to take on a job that is 24/7 and no pay, or they learn to juggle the responsibility of having two full time jobs. Either way, motherhood is not for the fainthearted.

Second, there are those women who did not plan on becoming pregnant but are. Now the first of these mothers decides that she will have and keep the child with, but more likely without, the help of the father. It is often a daunting and selfless course she has set herself on, for almost always, plans for her future are put on hold or discarded permanently. Often these mothers have to navigate all the minefields of parenting alone. However, how many times have we seen a successful son or daughter, whether on the national scene or in the neighborhood, credit the sacrifice and support of that single mother for their successes.

The second of these women who find themselves in an unplanned pregnancy realize that they cannot provide (financially, emotionally) adequately for this child, BUT they choose to carry the child to term and then relinquish the right of motherhood to another. Though this scenario seems like the easiest of the paths, I can not imagine how tough and emotional this must be for the mother. It is a selfless and difficult act.

In the fourth group are those women who desire to be a mother but can’t naturally, so they adopt. Mothers who choose to love another’s child and raise him or her as her own. A mother who puts aside all the bitterness of barrenness and embraces the child that God has given her.

Finally, there are those mothers who step up to fill the gap for those mothers who have failed to properly care and protect their children, or who have lost the right to mother their children through their actions. These mothers will foster—raise, encourage—until the birth mother is able to step back in.

No matter which way you look at it, motherhood is not easy. It is sacrificial and selfless. Mothers are to be celebrated and cherished. And when you think about it, a father can’t be a father unless a mother wants to be a mother first.

A friend shared the following song by Anne Wilson on Facebook on Mothers Day. I have been looking for an excuse to share it with you ever since. I think I found it. Enjoy

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you;” Jeremiah 1:5 ESV

“For you formed my inward parts; you knitted me together in my mother's womb. I praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. ” Psalm 139:13-14ESV




“Your eyes saw my unformed substance; in your book were written, every one of them, the days that were formed for me, when as yet there was none of them.”  Psalm 139:16 ESV

These verses, and others, explain the reason many of us are pro-life—because before we were even in the womb, God knew us, and then while we were in the womb, He intricately and uniquely formed each one of us. Even if that life was conceived as a result of violence or lack of planning. Even if that life is imperfect or inconvenient, God already had a plan for him or her.

But these verses won’t matter to those who don’t know Christ, because--“The person without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God but considers them foolishness, and cannot understand them because they are discerned only through the Spirit.” 1 Corinthians 2:14 NIV

And these verses won’t matter to those who feel betrayed by their government, anger at those responsible for taking away a “right”, and fearful of what the future now holds.

And these verses won’t matter to those whose world suddenly seems more confusing and painful and uncertain. Verses don't matter one bit. But actions do.

I do not mean to trivialize or minimize the pain, disruption, confusion, or fear that an unplanned or unwanted pregnancy brings with it. All those are very real.

But in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision on Roe v Wade, the actions the world does not need to see are more victory laps or speeches. What the world needs to see is God’s love in action. Hard core action.

We have been called to love those who hate us (Luke 6:35). We are indeed hated now more than ever, so now more than ever we need to love.

We have been commanded not to judge. (Matthew 7:1; Luke 6:36-37) So now more than ever we need to listen, understand, empathize, and help.

Pregnancy Care Centers (which offer women other options) are coming under greater attack (The Washington Times). So now more than ever we need to support and protect these centers as well as offer them as an option to women in crisis.

There are many who believe that the Supreme Court’s decision will throw us into dark ages.  And they could be right because governmental legislation alone has never been the answer. Legislation without the light and love of Christ to accompany it will be a very dark world indeed.

One of the fundamental tenants of our country is the idea of freedom of religion, a right firmly established in the First Amendment.  However, over the years, a second tenant has emerged which many feel supersedes or reinterprets this right, and that is the phrase “separation of church and state.” Ironically, this phrase never appears in the Constitution but rather was penned in a letter from Thomas Jefferson to the Danbury Baptist Association of Connecticut in 1801.

History reveals that the idea of separation of church and state is not to keep religion out of government but to keep the government out of religion, something many of the early pilgrims had experienced in their home countries.

The first amendment reads "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, nor prohibiting the free exercise thereof.” (emphasis mine)

And in his letter Jefferson emphasized that this separation’s “purpose was to preserve ‘rights of conscience,’ not to strip God from government.” (Lillback)
Unfortunately, this misreading/misinterpretation of history has set up what some call a “wall of separation between church and state” that was never meant to be, and consequently has seen God removed from almost every area of public life.

I have linked two wonderful articles regarding this twisting of meaning and its unfortunate results, all of which we are seeing in abundance today.The first is a Forbes article called “The True Meaning of Separation of Church and State” by Bill Flax, and the second is an opinion piece by Peter Lillback called “Tear Down the Wall of Church and State.”
As mentioned before in two previous blogs, the more God is removed, the more evil ensues. This past week I came across a Reba McIntire song that was first recorded in 2017. While the two articles above discuss the cause and the results, her song reminds us of the cure. 

I had the privilege of being in the UK for the celebration of Queen Elizabeth II’s  Platinum Jubilee. Seventy years on the thrown. Seventy years of . . . service.

Most often when we think of kings and queens, princes and princesses, we think of wealth and privilege, but the one word that has resonated throughout this celebration was the unending service of this self-sacrificing monarch. A monarch who was never meant to be a monarch; a monarch who had no aspirations for the thrown, but one whom, through a series of unexpected events (abdication of one and death of another), God placed on the throne at a very young age. A monarch who was designed to be a monarch. And one who embraced the role years before she actually ascended to the thrown.

In her speech to the Commonwealth on her 21st birthday, she told her listeners, “I declare before you all that my whole life whether it be long or short shall be devoted to your service and the service of our great imperial family to which we all belong.” It has turned out to be a long life, so it is a promise she has kept for seventy-five plus years with single-minded focus and at all cost to personal desire. It is one kept with a deep faith and a strong reliance on God. And one patterned after Jesus, himself, who said in Luke 22:27, that “I am among you as one who serves.” 

Granted, over the past few years, she has had to delegate some of her duties to her son and grandson, but she continues to serve in whatever manner she can.

Throughout the country, pictures, bunting, and flags adorned houses and buildings in tribute to the Queen. But it was the partial verse on the simple sandwich board pictured above (that I saw in a small cafe) that offered the most esteemed honor. A tribute to both her and her faith.​

We as Christians have likewise been called to a life of service as we are “ambassadors for Christ,” his representatives, which means if Christ saw himself as a servant then we are to do no less. May we embrace our role with the same single-focused, self-sacrificing willingness as the Queen has shown, setting aside all personal desire and devoting ourselves to a life of Christian service in whatever capacity we can.