By Brad McKenzie

I have had many women love me through my life.  As I think about the litany of females who have chosen to love, nurture and care for me, I cannot help but feel joy and extreme gratitude.  

Of all the women who have loved me, I have a group of my top three who have loved me the most, the longest and the most intimately.  My mind is filled with thoughts of these ladies on a daily and even momentary basis.

You could say that I am always thinking about a woman who loves me.  Specifically, I am speaking of my mom, my wife and my mother in law.

Oh, you may have thought that I was going in a very different direction with this piece, but this week I want to honor, encourage and give gratitude to all the women who have intentionally invested in my life, most importantly the three women whose love has been used by God to continually transform me into who God designed me to be.

It is my hope that in hearing my words of honor, encouragement and gratitude about my three mothers, and that mothers reading this post will find it uplifting as they continue to engage in the calling of motherhood.  

My mother in law’s name is Cindy.  To say that her love language is “acts of service” would be a lacking description.  

Her desire to pour out her love to her grandkids, daughters, husband and even me is most accurately shown in how she takes care of and does things for her family.  Her energy for her favorite people is incomparable and whit and wisdom always serves as well.

I cannot think of another woman who would have been more suited to be my mother in law and be Gigi to our kids.  If it is good to be Cindy’s kids, it is more than good to be her grandkids and it is amazing to be her son in law.  

I have been her favorite son in law for almost 14 years now, and even though she now calls me Bryan, the name of the newest son in law, I am confident that my title is secure, at least for now.  

Thank you, Gigi, for loving me as a son and blessing me with the amazing daughter you raised to be my wife and the mother of our kids.  

Speaking of my wife, Emily, there really is no way in these few words to express honor, gratitude and complete admiration to her for the years we have traveled the journey of life together.  

There is no other woman who God could have blessed me with that goes with me like my beautiful bride.  

She works so hard to unselfishly pour out herself to care for me and our kids that like her own mother, sacrifices many of her own desires and wants for our sake.  She is an amazing picture of a servant of God and of a family in the way she is always thinking of others and desiring to make sure they are taken care more than anyone deserves.  

Obviously, both of us are extremely blessed to have the mothers we have, but our kids, I guarantee you that there are no other kids in the world who are more blessed than our kids to have Emily as their mother.  

Thank you for loving me and thank you, thank you for loving our kids and more importantly thank you for loving with the Love of God that is the only true way to love.  

Lastly, I want to express my honor, gratitude, and love to my own mother, Paula.  

You would never let her physical height assume the large and big way her life expresses love.  There are no faults that I could ever think of or mention. In fact, her courage, perseverance, and toughness again cannot be defined by her short stature.  

If I had 10-percent of the above-mentioned attributes, I could be a much better husband, dad, and pastor.  

Intentional love for the Lord, husband, kids, and others is the example my poured into me and is so elegantly complimented by my wife and mother in law.  

The one difficulty I have these days with my mom is that I feel that I am starting to forget her face, her voice, and her laugh.  You see, my mom passed away almost 20 years ago when I had just graduated from college. Even though she is no longer with us, her intentional love and influence live on in me, and I hope that will never change.  

My top three women are all mothers and will win “world’s greatest mom” or “world’s greatest grandma” any day.  

My hope and prayer are that there is a woman in the life of everyone who is reading this that God has given you to show you intentional love and the closest human example of the beauty of God’s love.  

Godly mothers who intentionally love, serve and raise their children are so needed in our culture today.  The call for women to be an intentional channel of God’s love is needed now more than ever.

Every woman who takes that call seriously will find that God grants them to the greatest of all love, selfless love.  Love is truly experienced in the purest of forms when instead of waiting to be loved, love is granted without any expectation of return.  

Being a mother is not a job, it is not a task, it is a joy that invests love into a child so they can know what love is.  

I am a product of this.

Don’t neglect to acknowledge this in your own life and relationship with your mom this mother’s day.     

Moms, you are the best example of God’s love in this world.  Keep doing what you were made to do. You can love no matter what because God first loved you.  

That Is Good News!

 

Rev. Brad McKenzie is Lead Pastor at Frist Church of the Nazarene, 3810 Martin Luther King Jr. Drive in Orange.