HOLY MOTHER -- Devotional for May 9, from "Good Seeds"

From childhood you have known the sacred writings which are able to give you the wisdom that leads to salvation through believing in Christ… For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your grandmother Lois, and your mother Eunice, and now is in you. So kindle afresh the gift of God, which is in you. (II Timothy 3:15; 1:5-6)

It’s pretty easy to figure out that the word holiday is a derivative of holy and day. Even though some of our popular holidays would not readily be thought of as “holy” days, still their significance is deep enough to make them worthy of our attention and honor. It’s too bad some think of holidays as no more than just a little extra time off from work or school in order to get in some bonus sleep, or travel, or play. Well, we all enjoy a break from labor and routine, but holidays are not for the purpose of making space, but filling it – to fill our heads and hearts with reminders of what life would be like if the person we are celebrating had never come on the scene, or if the event we are commemorating had never transpired. Take Independence Day, for example: this is the day we remember our founding fathers and celebrate the freedoms they worked and fought and died for. The shooting off of fireworks and the singing of the national anthem on the 4th of July are almost sacred rites to any patriotic American. And then there’s Valentine’s Day, a day to remind us to show and shower our love on those most important to us. Such holidays are not only fun, but highly significant. But are they holy days? Mother’s Day is another such holiday, celebrated just as easily and meaningfully by God-lovers and God-ignorers alike. Everyone has a mother, and everyone understands that to honor the one who brought you into the world, and then taught you to stand strong in it, is a good thing. But for those who believe the human race and the human family come directly from the mind and hand of God, Mother’s Day is properly viewed as a true holy day. This word means set apart, separated from evil and unto good. Something that is holy is protected and preserved and honored so it can thrive and function in the way it was designed. By this definition, our bodies are holy; so is marriage; so are mothers. And godly mothers take very seriously their job of passing the faith along to their children, to give the most precious thing they hold in their hands, God’s Word, to the most holy thing they hold in their hearts, their children. Should not we also set apart as holy those who have so honored us with their attention, their love, and their very lives!