Motherhood in the Dash

Bible Verse: He will wipe every tear from their eyes.  There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.  He who was seated on the throne said, “I am making everything new!”  Revelation 21:4-5a

 Song:  Big House

By clicking the above song title, you will be directed to a video of our worship song for today.  Hope you enjoy this song selected specifically to go along with our devotion!

The wait is the really hard part.  The missing and the waiting.

Ten years ago, my sister lost her only son.  I know that Mother’s Day is a really, really, really hard day for her.  I cannot imagine what it would feel like to celebrate Mother’s Day when your heart is so broken over the loss of your child.

I hear people talk about “The Dash” and what it represents.  It is the time between birth and death.  It is the – on the tomb stone between the date of birth and the date of death. The Dash poem was written by Linda Ellis and tells the story of The Dash beautifully.

This Mother’s Day many Mom’s are living in the Dash.   They are holding on to every promise they can find and every shard of hope they can grasp, as they live their dash.

Mother’s Day to me is not about celebrating a person, it is about celebrating Motherhood.  We don’t stop celebrating Motherhood when we lose a Mother or a Child.  We just do it with a heart that has been a bit broken.  Beautifully Broken.

We are all broken, that is how the light gets in – Ernest Hemingway

This Mother’s Day I am choosing to celebrate the life my husband and I lost many years ago due to a miscarriage.  I grieve the loss of our child and I do think about our baby from time to time.  But this year the reality of our loss hit me a bit differently – someday, I will be in heaven and I will hold our baby in my arms!  The baby I never saw – but felt.  The baby I never heard – but cried with.  The baby I never touched – but that touched me.

My dear sisters, as many of us are living the dash this Mother’s Day, whether we are celebrating Motherhood without the children that never were, the children lost to miscarriages, the death of a child or the loss of a mother – Let’s hold on to the many promises of a God’s Word and the hope of a future with our loved ones in heaven.

I know that my nephew, Michael accepted Christ as his Lord and Savior in the summer of 2004 and is now spending eternity in the Big House! One of my favorite pictures of Michael was of him floating on a inner tube down a creek.  I can see him in heaven floating in a God’s eternal life-giving waters of a creek, smiling and celebrating Mother’s Day this year, knowing that the dash is short.

I can only imagine what the reunions in heaven for Mom’s everywhere will look like, the eternal Mother’s Day celebration.

A banqueting table of all the years of missed Mother’s Day Brunches.  Not just a bouquet of Mother’s Day flowers, but whole fields of Mother’s Day flowers. Not just one Hallmark Mother’s Day Card, but a whole sky filled with clouds that spell out every Mother’s wish and dreams.

Yea, I can imagine the kind of Mother’s Day celebration God has planned for us in the Big House!  Can’t you?

Heavenly Father, thank you for creating a place for us to spend eternity.  Thank you for the big, big house of eternity.  Hold us tight this Mother’s Day as we celebrate Motherhood and everything you created us to be.  Let your love be our celebration today and lighten our hearts with your eternal hope.  Lord, hear my prayers.  Amen