Mother's Day Devotional
Printable version can be downloaded below.
It begins with manaakitanga, as an unnamed woman from Shumman shows hospitality to God's prophet Elisha - providing him with his own room where he is welcome to stay. As a reward, Elisha promises the woman she will bear a child. The woman immediately responds by saying, 'No, my lord, O man of God; do not lie to your servant.”
Can you feel the pain of unanswered prayer here? Sometimes even allowing yourself to hope feels like too much to bear.
Yet, a year later, the woman experiences great joy as she gives birth to a baby boy: 'When the child had grown, he went out one day to his father among the reapers. And he said to his father, “Oh, my head, my head!” The father said to his servant, “Carry him to his mother.” And when he had lifted him and brought him to his mother, the child sat on her lap till noon, and then he died." (vs 17-20)
... as he breathed life into the boy, he foretold of another resurrection.
As much as joy is part of motherhood, so is grief and pain.
The woman lays the boy in the room reserved for Elisha, and immediately goes out to find the prophet. Elisha sends his staff to be laid on the child, but there is no miracle. So, Elisha comes to the child himself, and lays on him: face-to-face and breath-to-breath. As Elisha breathes out of his life-force, the boy comes back to life.
As the mother rocks her boy in her lap, she provides nurture and care, even as she faces unbearable loss. As much as joy is part of motherhood, so is grief and pain. As a mother or child, have you experienced a death - the loss of hope, of relationship, or of a loved one?
Elisha was a prophet of God, as he breathed life into the boy, he foretold of another resurrection: the death and rising to life again of our Lord, Jesus Christ. As we bring our loss and our grief to the cross today, we allow God to breathe life into us and give us hope in God's unfailing love.
