Single moms deserve the honor of being acknowledged on Mother’s Day. But how many single moms will be in your church on Mother’s Day? Have you ever noticed that some single moms might not attend on Mother’s Day? Know why? Because it can be a hurtful day without their children. You know, the kids who are with the other parent every other Sunday, and Mother’s Day happens to fall on the other parent’s day?
Take a moment right now to think about all the kids from single parents in your ministry. Now think about those moms and invite them to church on Mother’s Day. Tell them it’s okay if the kids are not with them but that you want to honor them for being a mom.
Single moms are some of the most determined group of people you will ever meet. Single moms have reared some amazing adults. Single moms today are raising the next generation of doctors, lawyers, scientists, ministers, politicians, teachers, parents, and every profession you can think about including being the president of the United States.
Here are just a few things that it takes to be a good single mom and to raise emotionally and spiritually healthy kids.
- Gumption
- Grit
- Fortitude
- Gentleness
- Dedication
- Strength
- Loyalty to convictions
- An enormous amount of energy
- The ability to exist on four hours of sleep and still function the next day
- The ability to go without eating just so your kids will be able to eat
- Creatively budgeting when there isn’t enough money to make it until the next payday
- Creativity (I’m sure it was a single mom who first used the newspaper Sunday comics as wrapping paper for a birthday present. And she probably did it five minutes before the ride to the birthday party arrived!)
- The ability to forgive beyond reason
- The ability to share her kids with another “mother” with grace and dignity
- To be able to laugh, kid around, and truly enjoy her kids whether she has them for a day, a week or 24/7
- The ability to juggle schedules as if she were the CEO of a large company
- The ability to discipline her kids fairly
- The ability to disciple her kids in the Word
- Faith in God to provide for every need
Here are three samples of using these terms to acknowledge a single mom on Mother’s Day.
- You have so much grit and determination to raise your kids. I don’t know how you do it everyday day in and day out.
- I’ve watched you with your children and I know you must be exhausted and yet the gentleness you display with each child is amazing.
- I admire your ability to laugh and keep God in the center of your family.
I remember my first Mother’s Day without my kids. After I got to church I wished the floor would open up and swallow me. I didn’t feel I fit in the family of God. If just one person would have said any of these things to me, it would have made my day. But instead, I sat alone. I prayed alone. And after church, I stood in the parking lot alone as I watched family after family get in their car and drive away together.
Stop today and invite a single mom to church on Mother’s Day. After all single moms are moms too.
If your children’s classes are preparing a lesson for Mother’s Day, please remember the single mom and honor her also.
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