Happy Mother's Day!!

Tomorrow is Mother’s Day so I want to wish all my friends who are moms a very happy Mother’s Day!! Enjoy your day with your family and celebrate being a mom. There is nothing more rewarding than motherhood. It doesn’t matter how far you get in your career, the satisfaction of seeing your children grow up and knowing that you contributed to their lives in some way, goes beyond the biggest promotion you could ever imagine. It’s not about money. It’s not about fame. It’s about raising another human being and helping them grow up and launching them into the world. Sometimes our kids don’t turn out like we hoped for but I believe that every seed of love we sowed into their hearts will produce fruit someday. Other times, our kids turn out way better than we anticipated based on how we raised them and our own ability to raise them. So I have concluded that, in the end, we do our best and then let God do the rest. We cannot do it all. We can only do what we know with the skills we do have.

We can teach our kids a lot about the world, about school and the importance of education, about the work life and many other things. But I think the most important thing we can teach our kids is the love of God. We must teach our children about how God cares for them and how He’s interested in every detail of their lives. We must teach them that life will be hard but with God on their side, they can not only survive but also thrive in this world. We must teach them the message of salvation through Jesus Christ and that they must make a decision and choose Jesus in their hearts.

We must teach our kids to not let go of Jesus and to always invite Him into every aspect of their lives. Some of the leaders of the Young Life organization in Nicaragua shared with me when I was there in December of last year, that one of the exercises they have the kids do at camp is to blindfold them and give them a rope. Then they have to walk through a series of obstacles while hanging on to the rope. In their exercise, the rope represents Jesus and the obstacles represent all the things they will have to overcome in their lives. I encouraged these leaders to never let go of the rope, to always hang onto it as tight as they could, never lose sight of it, and to share it with others in need. So today, I want to encourage you too to never let go of the rope—Jesus. He will help you get through every situation you may encounter in your life, one step at a time.