Months before the celebration of Mother and Daddy’s 40th wedding, my sister Pamela dreamed of a quilt to honor Daddy and Mother and to express thanks for the years God had given them together.

Pamela recruited squares from each of the sisters and sisters-in-law. . . . Then Pamela assembled, quilted, and stenciled the gift for Daddy and Mother.

As I look over the squares of this quilt, from oldest child to youngest of us 10 children of George and Pam Henry, I’m reminded of a few of the things I’ve learned by being my mother’s daughter. . . . (Read and/or listen to the rest of “What I Learned by Being My Mother’s Daughter”-and there are photos of all the family quilt blocks.)

Happy Mothers Day, dear Mother! I love you.

(This was posted originally for Mothers Day last year.)

God knows, Mothers Day is the hardest day in the year for some of you.

Large bouquets of white roses are at the front of our church. If you were with us this weekend, one of those roses might have been for you.

Your sadness may be related to your mother:

• Your mother is not alive.
• Life with your mother was too difficult to celebrate.
• Your mother wasn’t part of your life.
• You can celebrate with your mother because she lives too far away.
• Your mother is ill or suffering dementia.

It may be grief related to your own mothering:

• You have longed for children but have never been able to be pregnant.
• You have experienced miscarriage or stillbirth and never had even one sweet moment of looking into your baby’s eyes.
• After that loss, you fear it might happen again.
• You laid your baby down to sleep one afternoon or evening, and your little one never woke again.
• After losing that child, you feel fear when you look at your other children or think of having another.
• You were so close to adopting the child you already loved from a distance, and then the plans fell through.
• Your child–whether a child or adult–lost the battle to a disease, or died accidentally, or was murdered, or took his or her own life.
• Your child was placed for adoption and has another mother now.(If this is you, I hope you will read Julie’s blessing and thanks to you.)
• You  grieve over a pregnancy you chose to end.
• Your child is alienated from you.
• You’ve always dreamed you’d be married by now, with children, and that hasn’t happened.
• Your child has a disability that doesn’t permit you ever to hear “I love you” from him or her. (If this is true, I hope you will be comforted today by John Knight’s post that he posted last year about his wife and son)

God knows. That wasn’t a throw-away phrase I used at the beginning. God does know. He knows your fear, grief, anger, anxiety, love–the welter of emotions today that you hardly know how to name. He knows that even though you may be mostly composed most days, this day stirs it all up.

I pray that your church and others close to you will be Christ’s hands and heart for you today.

Even if other people aren’t aware or sensitive, I pray for you today that you can feel deeply the com-passion (together-suffering) of Jesus who bears our griefs and carries our sorrows.

(This was also posted with permission at the True Woman website. If you go there, you can see scripture passages they included that you may find comforting and encouraging.)

At the same moment:

It was 8 am in Uganda. Nephew Luke might have been grabbing a bite before gathering with other believers.

It was 6 am in Cameroon. I’m guessing that Steve and Julie, my brother-in-law and sister, would soon be waking and preparing to celebrate.

It was already 1 pm in China. The church bell in Ya’an would have been heard 4 hours earlier. An hour after that, believers in Yibin would have been summoned by their church’s bell.

When my church service begins at 11 am, others–like my cousin Rachel and her family in Hawaii–will just be waking to Easter’s light.

How many hours does Easter last on our globe? My math fails me. And that’s just as well, because the reality of Easter is not a one-day thing–not a 24-hour event.

Easter is our reawakening to the ever-living Jesus. The celebration is our springtime springboard into the whole year of THE LORD IS RISEN! HE IS RISEN INDEED.

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[Begin with no candles lit.]

HE IS GOD! He cannot stay dead. HE IS ALIVE. The true Glory of God shines in the world. The Light has won! The Eternal Light! TheBright Morning Star! The Light of the World!

The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you seek Jesus who was crucified. He is not here, for he has risen, as he said. Come, see the place where he lay.

[Light all seven candles.]

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.

For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. And you, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his body of flesh by his death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before him, if indeed you continue in the faith, stable and steadfast, not shifting from the hope of the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed in all creation under heaven.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you.

(Taken from Matthew 28:5-6; Colossians 1:15-23; 1 Peter 1:3-4)

The Lord is risen!

The Lord is risen, indeed!

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Taken from Lenten Lights