Here come the holidays again, mom…
Here comes that time of year when families gather.
But what if, this year, everything is different for you?
What if your table is smaller than it’s ever been?
God sees you
He sees your heart.
He sees the smaller table.
He sees the aching heart of every mother
all over our torn world.
He sees the ones
who long for their homes to be loud and full again
even for just a day.
He sees the ones
who long to hear the sweetness of siblings laughing together in the other room while all she does is cook…all day long...and she’d do it all again just to hear it for a moment.
He sees the ones
whose arms ache for the one
who went far away
to take a job
to marry their sweetheart
to start a grand adventure
and just can’t make it back this year.
He sees the moms
who now have to share with
their children’s father and maybe his new wife
or
their daughter in-law or son in-law and their family
or
maybe they have to share their child with their country who now has them at war.
And these kids come back to visit..they do…
But for the ones who can’t come back,
for the ones
who got lost
who went to find themselves only to lose themselves,
for the ones
whose departure was to be for just a little while but it was sudden and it was final,
for the ones
who got sick but never got well,
For you mom…
You…who aches every day.
God especially sees your heart.
He cries with you, aches with you, screams with you.
He holds the shattered pieces of your heart…
even when you don’t feel it or believe it..He does
He does because He is love.
The heart of a mother soldiers on…
it has to.
Your life has changed seasons and your children’s lives have too.
You had them for awhile…for a breath of awhile
But for now, you wait with hope.
Hope for the next year to have them all around your table
or maybe you must wait even more
for the ultimate hope to sit with them again in heaven forever.
Mom, do you understand how much God gets it?
He understands it fully.
He feels it.
He aches as well.
He waits patiently for his children to come to him, to come home.
to say “yes” to coming home forever and to dine with him at his table.
There will be a day when the table will be set and ready.
Have you received his invitation? When your chair sits empty here on earth, will you be sitting with him in heaven?
Will you be with the one who created you in his image, the one who gave his life for you knowing you from beginning to end?
He has a place set with love just for you.
Written beautifully.