Happy Mother’s Day to all of our wonderful mothers! If your mother is not living, may you be blessed with wonderful memories of her today. If you have not been able to be a mother, may God surround you with His love and comfort and may you be able to trust Him that He is sovereign and faithful. If your mother wasn’t what you considered ideal and you don’t see reason to honor her today, if Mother’s Day is just plain difficult for you, I pray you may be able to be thankful that your Mother chose life and that you now have a chance to make a difference in the life of another. Blessings to you all on this wonderful day. You can read some of my other more humorous Mother’s Day posts here, here and here!

Phone calls, flowers and ropes on Mother’s Day

Mother’s Day has always been a favorite here in the United States. They say over 122 million will take the time to call their mother today. I will wait for you if you haven’t called your mother yet. Go ahead, it will make her day!

The average spent on Mom today is $168. That seemed extremely high to me and very extravagant for a holiday that was meant to just say, “Thank you.”

Yesterday, I received the most wonderful gift I may have ever gotten for Mother’s Day. Letters from My Three Sons, my sweet DIL, Rachel, and The Sweetheart. Post dated to open one a month for an entire year. Tears!! I will open the first one today. Genius. Thank you to the best kids on the planet!

Around the world, Mother’s Day is celebrated much the same way we do here in the States; flowers, candy, a day off from chores, maybe dinner in a restaurant.

In Ethiopia, Mother’s Day is celebrated for three days! The three-day feast, Antrosht, is celebrated by making hash. The girls bring spices, vegetables, cheese and butter and the boys bring a lamb or a bull. The mother then serves the hash and a celebration takes place afterward where the mothers and daughters anoint themselves using butter on their faces and chests. The men sing songs to honor the family. Hmmm…

Men in Australia typically wear a chrysanthemum in their lapels to honor their mothers. This flower is chosen because it ends in “mum” which is their chosen name for the one who brought them into the world!

If you think your Mother’s Day is dull, you could celebrate as they do supposedly, in Serbia. They also need three days to honor their mother in the month of December. They celebrate Children’s Day and Father’s Day all back to back on consecutive Sundays. But here is where it truly differs from other celebrations! On Children’s Day, the children are tied up with rope and have to say they will behave before they can be untied!

Then on Mother’s Day, it is the mother’s turn to be wound around and around with the rope and she must stay all tied up until she gives treats and gifts to the children. How she is supposed to do this while tied up is a mystery to me but hey, she is a mom! Finally, on Father’s Day, you guessed it, Dad gets to take a turn. He must stay bound with the ropes until he gives the family their Christmas gifts and then everyone can celebrate.

As a daughter I have seen 50+ Mother’s Days come and go. As a Mother, this is my 35th year of celebrating. As a grandmother, it is my very first. My son and DIL experienced infertility for over ten years before we received this little miracle, who is just five weeks old, Norah Jayne. You can read their story here.

While it has taken a few years for me to join the grandparents club, trust me, I feel as if I belong here. Watching Norah at times is like going back 25+ years and watching my own all over again. It seems as if I can see each one of My Three Sons in her tiny face. And yet, she is her own little person, she will have her own ideas, her own desires and her own dreams. This isn’t the same world that her daddy grew up in and it will take a love for God and a relationship with Him to weather the storms that life will send her way.

If I could tell Norah one thing it would be to always honor your parents. They will make mistakes but will forever want what is best for you and strive to make sure you are loved, safe and cared for.

Today, if your mother is living, you are blessed to still have her and be able to let her know you appreciate her. To my own mother, Sandy, I thank you for everything you have done for me and my family over the years. We could count on you then and we can count on you now. Thank you for being a great mother.

To my daughter-in-law, Rachel, on her first Mother’s Day, a day that has typically been so difficult is now wonderfully anticipated. It’s taken a long time to get here but God’s timing is always perfect. May you enjoy every moment and give thanks to the One who has blessed us all with such a miracle.

Did I mention the country of India? Most of the citizens of this country aren’t really aware of a formal Mother’s Day for one interesting reason: They strongly feel that ONE DAY isn’t sufficient to celebrate the love of a mother.

I would agree.

Happy Mother’s Day!