Never Alone

When we feel that no one cares for us or understands us, we suffer. Yet, it is easy to feel forgotten, forsaken, or forlorn in a world that promotes busyness at the expense of relationships. Mother Teresa said that loneliness and the feeling of being unwanted is the most terrible poverty.

God wants us to remember that we are never alone. He says,

• Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.

• And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.

• I, the Lord Your God, will hold your right hand, saying to you, "Fear not. I will help you."

So how do we feel God’s presence when we feel alone? How do we recognize that He is with us?
A powerful way to experience God’s power in our lives is to follow Him, to walk with Him, to yoke or bind ourselves to Him.

Farmers yoke animals together so that their burdens are lightened and their work is easier. Christ challenges us to yoke ourselves to Him, to bind our hearts and thoughts to Him and to lean on Him. Imagine yourself literally bound to Christ as you meet with the oncology doctor, when you talk to an abusive boss, or when you grieve the loss of a child or spouse. Imagine Him standing beside you when you deal with your impertinent teen, when you hear that your best friend is terminally ill, or when you face a painful surgery.

Consider His words: “Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”

Picture yourself walking beside Christ, yoked to Him by the power of His love. Imagine that He is carrying your sorrows, your pain, your grief, your loneliness. See Him making your burden light because He is lifting your burden from you and, then, through the power of His grace, carrying you every moment of your life.

When we yoke ourselves to Christ, we try to live as He would live. We choose friends, entertainment, and thoughts that bring us to Christ. We seek to love as He loved, speak as He spoke, and serve as He served. We chose to love Him with all of our hearts, knowing that He always loves us with all of His heart.

As we yoke ourselves to Christ, we realize that because of His power, we can do all things that He wants us to do because He strengthens us. We can find rest and comfort for our souls. We can become whole.


© Carol Brown

Mothers

One thing that all mortals share is that we all have mothers. I lost mine 10 years ago, so Mother's Day is a hard day for me. I miss her a lot.

Today I rejoiced with a mother who welcomed her eighteenth adopted special needs child to her loving family and also grieved at the passing of my friend, a mother of a 17-year daughter and a young married daughter with four children. And I've thought a lot about mothers.

One way we can find greater peace in life is honoring, loving, and forgiving our mothers. The most miserable people I know hold on to grudges against their mothers. Some of them have never been mothers themselves and don't know how truly daunting the job is. Others seem to be stuck in a pity party and want to blame their bad choices on their moms.

When my mother was alive, every year on Mother's Day, I cooked dinner for her and pampered her. I brought me such joy and peace to serve her not only on Mother's Day but throughout the year. Sometimes serving her was very inconvenient--even difficult--but it still brought me peace. I gave up a promising career to care for her, but don't regret the choice at all.

I volunteer in a retirement center and see many forgotten mothers whose children are too "busy" to call or visit them. It's been fun to adopt a couple of these moms and try to love them the way I loved my own mother. There are so many lonely people in the world who long for kindness, and a lot of them are elderly, widowed mothers.

"Being unwanted, unloved, uncared for, forgotten by everybody, I think that is a much greater hunger, a much greater poverty than the person who has nothing to eat," said Mother Teresa. Loving and forgiving our mothers brings us peace. As we honor our mothers by living in love, goodness, and forgiveness, we find peace.

Happy Mother's Day to all mothers and to all who celebrate motherhood. It is a noble and difficult calling. May we find peace as we love and forgive our mothers and as we reach out with love to those who feel unwanted, unloved and forgotten.
© Carol Brown