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'Mail' Newspaper Articles

Focal Point (for publishing 03/05/11)

Thank God for Good Mothers

What a blessing it is to have a good mother. I had one of the best yet I know there are many 'bests', out there. Looking back now over the twenty-five years that have passed since her death, I could be accused of seeing her through rose-colored glasses. However dementia hasn't set in and my memories are still very clear, well past her death date, they go right back to when I was at least three. She was always a giving person, never complaining and always helping others and doted on her family of four boys. Some say excessive doting on sons can be a problem for prospective daughters in law, but girls, you will have to live with the competition that those mums give you.

Someone said last week, in a distasteful moment that 'Diana' would have been jealous of Kate. How can poor Diana defend herself on that one? She may well, like any mother, go through a loss in having to share 'her' boy or 'girl' with another, but if she has true love she will want to share in their joy. After all most mums have invested many years in their children's growth and maturity so here is the next step. The roads will be choc-a-bloc on the 8th as families travel to mum's or to take mum out etc. Flowers chocolates, tickets to Andre Rieu and the like will be the go. Of course for most mums just the thrill of the visit and a chance for them to dote over the grandchildren may be enough.

Now all this is sweet as sugar water, but for many this will not be their experience. Some mums will sit and wait and no one will come, and some will feel a little cheated with a simple text. In my case there is no mum to visit and although a little sad, others will suffer deeply at the thought of recent sudden loss of mum. Maybe this Mother's Day you can do that little extra for mum. It doesn't have to mean a heavy financial cost, but just some special way to say 'I love you' and 'You mean a lot to me'. Maybe you could even think through visiting a mum who has no one to visit them and try to cheer their day. Maybe you could ring someone you know who has recently lost their mum and offer some words of consolation.

All over the world people remember mums although not all on the one date. Back in March the Brits celebrated what they call Mothering Sunday which started in Europe and it was designed to honour mothers. Anglicans and Catholics honour the Virgin Mary on 'Laetare Sunday' (Fourth Sunday in Lent) as well as their own mums on the 8th of May. The USA proclaimed a 'Mothers Day' in 1870 recognizing that mothers shaped the nation. Why thank God? Because He created them, and set up the whole idea in the first place. In fact He knew what was required as 'He' had and still has many feminine and motherly characteristics. (God of course is neither male nor female but is Spirit) Theologians sometime refer to those 'characteristics' and 'Him' as the Motherhood of God.

The God I know mothers 'His' church and 'His' (Can't quite get a way from the His – could be Hers) people known as His flock, and in one instance in the Bible he is quoted as a hen gathering her chicks. The story is told of a hen found dead in a sitting position after a fire had passed through. The hen was just a charred lump and as a passer-by turned her over with his boot in an enquiring way, out ran some chicks. The mother had not left her 'post' but died in saving her chicks. That's the mother love of God and what mother wouldn't do all they could to save the children from pain. Thank God for mothers, yours or others past and present.

Graeme Dawson B.Min. Grad.Dip.CC.
Co-ordinator Focal Point & Valley Care Clinical Counsellor
0409 517273

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