(946) Mother's day

There are many seasons that we go through. Personally I went through about ten years of learning to help children with different forms of learning disabilities. During the last five years of that period I listened to the unexpressed pain of a neighbour who happened to be physically abused by her prosperous and respectable husband. At the end of that season, teaching came to an end. I actually looked long and hard for any teaching jobs for one calendar year. After applying to about six jobs that ranged from remedial English in college to tutoring to kindergarten teaching, I gave up.

What happened next was I spent a fair amount of my free time listening to a hurting divorcee. The first Mother's day, she did not go to church. By the time the second one rolled around, she came and smiled throughout the special service. I can only say that it was easier to witness her weeping than seeing her plastic smile. This year's Mother's day came and went. She did not come. After a few years of living away from her abusive husband and missing her beloved children, it was still hard for her to be present for a Mother's day celebration.

I extended an invitation to her: should she need a friend to accompany her to a neutral celebration of Mother's day in a nearby church where she knows nobody, I will be prepared to go with her next year. Therefore if she loses her composure and needs to weep in a corner, it would not be so public and humiliating. There are churches where everyone would respect a person's privacy and give her space to weep quietly in a corner. But not all churches are like that.