Wiping Away the Tears

I want to begin by saying, “Happy Mother’s Day” to all the Moms here today as well as to those who serve as Mom substitutes. You deserve to be celebrated on this special day because of the incredible impact you have on so many lives.

A good mother is such a powerful example of God’s love. Many mothers are willing to do almost anything to communicate their love to their children. Some even try desperately to keep up with the changing styles popular with young people nowadays. Good luck with that.

Reader’s Digest magazine recently published some texts from mothers who weren’t aware of the most current lingo young people use for texting.

One mother wanted to know the meaning of some acronyms she had seen. So she texted her son. “What do IDK, LY & TTYL mean?” she asked in her text message.

Without explanation, the son texted back: “I don’t know, love you, talk to you later.”                   Mom replied: “Well, OK, I’ll just ask your sister.”

Another mother texted her son: “Your great-aunt just passed away. LOL.”

The son replied: “Why is that funny?”

Mom texted back: “It’s not funny, David! What do you mean?”

The son texted: “Mom, LOL means Laughing Out Loud.”

Mom replied: “Oh, no! I thought it meant Lots of Love.” Then she added: “I have to call everyone back.” That’s all right, Mom. It’s hard to keep up nowadays.

It’s not easy being a mom. Michelangelo’s mother probably said: “Mike, can’t you paint on the walls like other children? Do you have any idea how hard it is to get that stuff off the ceiling?”
No, it’s not easy to care for a child. During a flood, one family sent its little boy to stay with an uncle in another, safer part of the state.  Two days later the parents received a text: “I am returning the boy. Send the flood.” It’s not easy being a parent. Sometimes we can be overwhelmed with demands on our time and energy.

Through Jesus’ death and resurrection, God left us a powerful symbol of comfort: you will be all right and I will come back for you. There are times when we need to be reminded of that promise.

We all come to moments when we need God’s tender care – when no one else can offer the comfort we need, not even mom. There are hurts that only God can heal. There are burdens only God can lift. There are fears that only God can put to rest. So it’s with great joy that we read the good news for the day from the Book of Revelation, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Life is sometimes very, very hard. We don’t understand why it is hard, but it is. The writer of Revelation knew about tears. He lived in a time when Christians were being cruelly persecuted. The Apostle John, in exile on the isle of Patmos, had friends and fellow believers who suffered greatly under Roman rule. He couldn’t be present to comfort them in their sufferings. He could only pray and weep in their behalf. Sometimes that is all any of us can do …that and offer a word of much needed encouragement.

I remember one time as a kid I was running away from my brother.  I did that a lot, since he was seven years older than me and did not appreciate me trying to hang out with him and his teenage friends.  On this particular occasion, I stumbled on the front porch as I was making my dash to safety in the house.  As I fell, my forehead came down on the edge of the step of the front door.  My forehead was cut wide open.  As I stood up, I couldn’t see anything because of the blood pouring down into my eyes.   I had gone blind, I thought.  Surely, the end was near.  I began to wail.

But mom was there for me.  She grabbed some kitchen towels and put them on the wound.  We walked next door and got our neighbor to take us to the emergency room.  During the drive, I sat with my head in mom’s lap.  As I lamented my blindness and probable ensuing brain surgery, mom was a calming presence.  By the time we arrived at the hospital, she had convinced me that I was not actually blind and that I would probably only need a few stitches.

As usual, mom was right.  I did indeed get a few stitches.  And I could see.  In fact, the wound on the forehead looked kind of cool.  It made me look tough.  And there was mom, standing there and smiling, her white blouse (and slacks) covered in my blood.

Sometimes all we can do is pray and offer a word of encouragement. God does all that and more. In our time of need God also comes to us with His love and comfort, if we will accept it. John writes, “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”  Just like a mother holding her child in her arms giving comfort and solace.

God came in human form, in the person of Jesus Christ, to share our pains. He is our great Comforter because He knows our weakness and our heartbreaks. He came to wipe away our tears as he says, “I know. I know.”

God’s love is all encompassing, inexhaustible, everlasting – but in order to experience that love we must be open to Him, we must be doing our part to maintain the relationship, we must seek to give our best if we want to receive His Best. “God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.”

Some of you may be familiar with the African-American women’s singing group, Sweet Honey in the Rock.  They have a song titled, “No Mirrors in My Nana’s House.” One of the singers explained how this song was created. One of her friends was telling her about growing up in a very poor neighborhood. She grew up in her grandmother’s house and she said, “You know, in my Nana’s house there were no mirrors.”

Her friend asked her, “Well, how did you know what you looked like?”

“Well,” she said, “My Nana told me. Every morning I would get up and get dressed and comb my hair, and then I would go to Nana and I would say, ‘How do I look?’ And she would tell me. She would tell me I was beautiful. She said my skin was smooth and golden brown, kissed by the sun, and she said my eyes shone like silver moonbeams. In my Nana’s house, there were no mirrors, so I saw myself through my Nana’s eyes who loved me and the beauty of everything was in her eyes.”

What a wonderful gift to give to a child. That’s the sort of love and encouragement we need from our Nanas and Poppas and Mommas and Daddies.  And it’s the way we should love and encourage one another as well.

Happy Mother’s Day!