Mother's Day

Last year on Mother's Day, I was at the beach with my sister and her two kids, my mom and Asher. We spent some time kicking around names for the little baby that I was pregnant with (we all really liked the name "Lucy"-how fun is that?) and playing with our kids who were all terrified of walking on the sand and how loud the water was. It was a great week, but exhausting! It ended on Mother's Day with all of us working much harder at getting home than any of us were interested in.

This year, it is much quieter. We are at home; Matt and I bought a patio set and we ate outside over the weekend. I love it!

My sister just sent me a Mother's Proclamation from 1870. Apparently, this proclamation was one of the reasons why Mother's Day was created. Check it out:

Mother's Day Proclamation - 1870
by Julia Ward Howe

Arise then...women of this day!
Arise, all women who have hearts!
Whether your baptism be of water or of tears!
Say firmly:
"We will not have questions answered by irrelevant agencies,
Our husbands will not come to us, reeking with carnage,
For caresses and applause.
Our sons shall not be taken from us to unlearn
All that we have been able to teach them of charity, mercy and patience.
We, the women of one country,
Will be too tender of those of another country
To allow our sons to be trained to injure theirs."

From the voice of a devastated Earth a voice goes up with
Our own. It says: "Disarm! Disarm!
The sword of murder is not the balance of justice."
Blood does not wipe our dishonor,
Nor violence indicate possession.
As men have often forsaken the plough and the anvil
At the summons of war,
Let women now leave all that may be left of home
For a great and earnest day of counsel.
Let them meet first, as women, to bewail and commemorate the dead.
Let them solemnly take counsel with each other as to the means
Whereby the great human family can live in peace...
Each bearing after his own time the sacred impress, not of Caesar,
But of God -
In the name of womanhood and humanity, I earnestly ask
That a general congress of women without limit of nationality,
May be appointed and held at someplace deemed most convenient
And the earliest period consistent with its objects,
To promote the alliance of the different nationalities,
The amicable settlement of international questions,
The great and general interests of peace

One of the reason's that I love this proclamation is because I have begun to understand exactly why war is such a travesty. This revelation has only come to me now because I am a mother. Anytime a life is lost, whether by acts of heroism or terrorism...that person was someone's child. A mother somewhere has lost her child and no matter the manner of that death; a loss is experienced and that life cannot be recreated. War does not discriminate and only take the "bad" people who have no families, no futures or no pasts.

Somewhere a circle of people have been impacted and a life that was created by God and loved beyond all measure has been ripped from the earth. This is not what He has designed for his creation. Our sin has led all of mankind to be at war with one another and everytime we pick up arms, we verify that this is indeed a fallen world-apart from Him and without hope apart from Him.

Mother's everywhere have experienced loss as their children grow up and make choices apart from them. They die a slow death, even as pride emanates from them as they see their children grown and learn. That is why we celebrate Mother's Day. Just to honor those who simultaneously love and let go at the same time. It is quite a challenge.

Thanks Shellie for sending this to me. It has given me a lot to chew on!

EDIT: I wanted to say one more thing, as a child of a retired Army officer, I am very, VERY sensitive to anti-war protests and sentiment. The only way that I can reconcile this within myself is to remember a quote that is posted outside of the Army War College Campus in Carlisle, Pennsylvania (where my dad was stationed for a year) it gave a great purpose for our military and something that I wish was more at the forefront of our current government, "Not to promote war, but to preserve peace."

I believe that this quote serves as a reminder of what our military was formed to do, not to be a war-mongering nation...but to uphold peace as the great ideal of the world and to offer our aid as a powerful nation to all who long for peace in their nations. As Jesus said, "Blessed be the peacemakers." PEACE is the call of our nation.

Okay, that's enough for the soapbox today!