Mother’s Day is always a tough day for me. I see all the posts about the wonderful moms and growing up with moms that were encouraging and nurturing and I remember my mother was anything but. She was a difficult person with mental and emotional problems that affected our home life.
One of my most vivid memories of childhood happened when I was five, my brother was about eight months. I was awakened in the middle of the night by my dad and carried away by my Uncle Louie. Louie was not really an uncle; he was the husband of my mother’s cousin (several times removed). My brother was carried off by my mother’s sister.
My mother disappeared for about four months. Eventually I would learn that my father had her committed to a facility after coming home early from work and finding her issues had escalated.
Looking back, it is easy to find definitions for her personality. It was not easy to have lived amid those definitions. Those things left their imprint on my brother and me, which we have both struggled to remove throughout our lives. Being told you are not worth much, being constantly reminded of the things you do wrong and have done wrong does not lend well to a healthy personality or character development.
But God. At the age of 26, God interrupted my life, and everything changed. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, new things have come.” [2 Corinthians 5:17 HCSB]
God removed the old imprint of dysfunction and worthlessness and gave me a new imprint. Healing did not happen overnight, in fact, I am still an ongoing work. But I hold on to the promise that one day I will be a completed work.
I still struggle on Mother’s Day. I still retain a bit of envy for those who had delightful mothers. But I am oh so thankful that I am a new creation in Christ Jesus. Thank you, Jesus.
