It was a good question to help our kids feel loved. I get that.

“Go around and introduce your child and then say I love her because ____________”

I had about 30 seconds until I was up. I knew how I wanted to answer for each one of my kids. But, I wasn’t sure if I should “break the rules.” See, I have a fundamental issue with that question.

“This is David, and I love him because he’s really smart.”
“This is Emily, and I love her because she’s so kind and caring.”

I’m up. And, I played along.
“This is Drew, and I love him because he’s so silly and funny. And, this is Ashlyn, and I love her because she’s so helpful. And, this is Lydia, and I love her because she is mine.”

And, isn’t that how I should have answered it for all of them.

I recognize the need for my children to be affirmed—probably because I recognize my own need to be affirmed. Can you sense my husband’s head nodding through cyberspace? I have been known to ask, “Do you love me?” “Yes, I love you.” “But, what do you love about me?” It sounds self-centered—but he knows what I mean. I just want those words of affirmation.

But, what we were asked to answer had a fundamental flaw.

I don’t love Drew because he’s silly and funny. I don’t love Ashlyn because she’s helpful. I don’t love Evan because he’s sensitive and gentle. I don’t love Lydia because of her warmth or how she lights up a room. I don’t.

I love them because I’ve been called to love them. God has given them to me; and, in so doing, He has given me the very significant calling to love them. Sometimes my calling as a mother is easier than other times. But, regardless, I’m still called to love.

And, when I step back to consider my calling as a mother, I can’t help but think about God’s love for me as my heavenly Father. He doesn’t love me because of anything I do well. He doesn’t love me because I love Him. He loves me because I am His. Period. How would He have completed that sentence about me?

This Mother’s Day, I don’t want to celebrate me. (Yes, dear husband, despite how I’ve declared the entire weekend, Mother’s Day Weekend, I’m being honest.) Instead, I’m celebrating my calling, my calling to love these 4 children who call me Mama. I know I don’t always fulfill that calling well. In fact, I very often fail and feel unequipped and unable to do it well. But, I’m thankful that I have the best model of motherhood before me—a love that loves even when I turn away, a love that pursues me and advocates for me, a love that does not change when I change, and a love that whispers in my ear, “I love you because you are mine.”

But when the kindness and love of God our Savior appeared, he saved us, not because of righteous things we had done, but because of his mercy. Titus 3:4-5a