Listening in on Mother’s Day

There are times (many times in our home) when mom simply says it best. Such is the case with the thoughts that my wife Amy shared on Mother's Day on the Tapestry Blog. I hope you are encouraged and maybe even challenged a bit by her heartfelt reflections.

Grateful to Share My Mother’s Day

Tears flowed down my face today as I sat in church listening to our pastor read the most sincere and sensitive prayer I’ve ever heard offered on Mother’s Day. He started his prayer with thanksgiving to God for welcoming us into His family through adoption by the miracle of grace. He then continued by praying  for all mothers, specifically mentioning adoptive moms, those whose heart longs to become a mother but are experiencing infertility and those who don’t know their biological mothers. 

As I sat between my two oldest sons, each holding my hands, I couldn’t help but think about the mothers who gave them life and changed ours forever. These women, whom we hardly know, have never been more real and more close to my heart than they were today as I thought about their love, courage and selflessness. I wondered if they were thinking of their boys today. I wondered if their tears flowed and if their hearts ached. And I wondered if I might ever be able to fully express the depth of my love and gratitude for them, at least this side of heaven.

As the pastor prayed and as we continued to worship, I spent a few moments lifting each of them up in prayer. I prayed that our God of all comfort would continue to heal their hearts and give them a peace that assured them their children are deeply loved, and so are they.

For some adoptive moms it isn’t easy “sharing” Mother’s Day with our children’s birthmothers. But far from taking away from my role as my children’s mother, including their birthmothers in my thoughts and prayers on this special day somehow makes it and me more complete. I am my children’s mother and I forever will be. But as I was reminded recently by my six-year-old daughter, I am not the only mother they have, and if they have room in their hearts for more than one mother then so must I.  

I may not be my children’s only mother but I am the only one they can hug, give a homemade card to and say “I love you” to on this special day. So I will choose on this day (and in the days that follow) to pray and even let me heart ache a little for their other mothers. I am grateful for the gift I have been given — the privilege of loving and caring for the children God has blessed me with. My gain could not exist but for the loss that is always a part of adoption. So while this special day is about me, it is not “all” about me. I share it with a grateful heart with the women who allowed me to celebrate this special day with the children that we love.

Amy Monroe and her husband Michael serve on Tapestry’s Leadership Team. Amy contributes to the Tapestry Blog regularly in her column, A Mother’s Heart.