The Motherless

Yesterday was the thirteenth year I spent Mother's Day without my Mom.  It was also the first time in 11 years I spent it without my Stepmom.  I remember last Mother's Day so vividly.  My Dad had just passed away and his funeral was the Friday before Mother's Day.  On Mother's Day I spent most of the day with my Stepmom.  I think we were both numb from the loss and I truly grieved more for her.  She had lost her partner in life.  She didn't have children, and though she had nieces and nephews that were like her children, I always spent Mother's Day with her after she and Dad married.  Now Dad was gone and we both were sad.  I didn't fathom that it would be my last Mother's Day with her too.

I have a lot of friends who are 'motherless.' Many I know that spent their first day without their Mom.  Or many, like me, who have spent years without their Mom, but it stings just a little bit more on this day.  I also have many friends who, due to their inability to have children, are not mothers.  The sting is similar.  They 'mother' many in their lives, but never bore (or adopted) their own children.  I fall in this category too.

Lamenting over such things is not my normal modus operandi.  I have so many more blessings than losses in my life and I'm amazed and encouraged how God fills those empty gaps.  A Mother's Day rarely goes by where I don't get at least one message from a sweet sister in Christ who encourages me about how I have impacted their life.  I'd never would have had the time to do so if God had blessed me with a passel of my own kids.  And there are so many "Moms" in my life that look out for me and care for me that even though my Mom, and Stepmom, are gone, I don't feel as 'orphaned' as I could.

Recently I started a new devotional time reading through the book of Esther.  For those that know me best, you know I've probably read Esther no less than a kabillion times.  As I read and studied through it this time, I noticed something new (as I seem to always do with Scripture).  Yes, Esther was motherless.  Well, duh, I knew, that right?  Mordecai raised her, blah blah blah.  But, it hit me this time stronger.  Call it God's Sovereignty and perfect timing.  The mere mention "Esther's parents had both died and Mordecai, her uncle, raised her" struck a chord in me.  You have to love Mordecai.  This man probably asked "what am I to do with raising a girl?"  And yet he did.  And raised her to love God with all her heart.  As I read the story now, I read it through the eyes of one that was motherless yet had a Mordecai.  Scripture doesn't mention Mordecai having any other children, so Esther could have been his only one.  And hit a home run raising her.  God used her to save the Jewish nation, and in turn, the lineage from where our Savior would be born.

Every Esther needs a Mordecai.  And every Mordecai needs an Esther.  God's Plan is so perfect, even if it doesn't fit the normal mold of what we might expect.