I have two daughters who are beautiful on the inside and out. And they have blessed me with five exquisitely wonderful grandchildren. I could not be, or feel, more blessed. My mother is one of the sweetest and most giving and thoughtful women I know, and my two grandmothers were saints in their own right. Both were teachers and mothers to three strong, intelligent children. I come from a strong heritage of women and trust that the women of my family coming after me will continue to contribute positively to God's community.
The Bible was written by men, primarily about men, during a time when women were considered property with little if any right to determine their own destiny. And yet there are stories of many strong women in scripture. The women of the Bible are extraordinary in that most are mentioned only because their actions were out of the ordinary and obviously blessed by God. Esther saved her people, the people of Israel. Ruth lived into her commitment to her mother-in-law and her mother-in-law's God and put herself at risk, at the same time that she put herself in the position to give birth to a child who would be in the lineage of David leading to Jesus.
As we approach Mother's Day, and I reflect on my many blessings as a mother and as a daughter, the Biblical stories of women who yearned for a child have been at the forefront of my mind. In the past few weeks, I have been in more than one prayerful conversation about different couples who want to have a child and are struggling to conceive. The lengths that couples will go through, including expensive medical procedures, to live into their dream to be parents are today's version of Abraham and Sarah trying to continue to trust God's promise that they would be the parents of a great nation; of Hannah, Samuel's mother's prayers to God to please bless her with a child and if so blessed she would dedicate that child to God; and of Elizabeth giving birth to John in her old age.
Thankfully, God has blessed the women – and men – of today with the option of adoption. Parents and children are blessed with becoming a family united by love and commitment – a deep commitment on the part of the adopting parents, as well as the commitment to the welfare of her child of the birth mother. I have close friends who are adoptive parents, a cousin and other friends who were adopted, and another close friend who works with women to find good homes for their children who it would be difficult for them to raise. I know too many stories of the strength of these families, and the love involved in all aspects of the adoptive process, to doubt that God's Holy Spirit is at work through adoption.
Mother's Day is still a week away, but it is never too early to celebrate mothers – all mothers: from those named in Scripture, to those who have prayed for a child and have been blessed, to those who have blessed another woman by allowing that woman to mother the child they gave birth to. I give thanks to God for my mother every day.
The Rev. Dr. Leslie Smith Belden is a minister of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.), serving as the stated clerk of the Presbytery of Arkansas. Contact her at lesliebelden@me.com.