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{"id":2429,"date":"2012-05-12T17:45:51","date_gmt":"2012-05-12T22:45:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatshesaid\/?p=2429"},"modified":"2012-05-14T00:24:48","modified_gmt":"2012-05-14T05:24:48","slug":"dear-hallmark-can-we-please-have-our-sunday-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/whatshesaid\/2012\/05\/dear-hallmark-can-we-please-have-our-sunday-back\/","title":{"rendered":"Dear Hallmark, Can We Please Have Our Sunday Back?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Ok, it is confession time\u2026 I don\u2019t love Mother\u2019s day. Before you think I need years of therapy, hear me out. Is it because I miss\u00a0my mom who died too young<\/a>?\u00a0 Probably so.\u00a0 But, I think it also has to do with the intense \u2013 yet highly imperfect \u2013 love I have for my own kids. Come to think of it \u2013 it\u2019s probably a combination of both.<\/p>\n

So, I compose some version of the same letter in my head every Mother\u2019s Day:<\/p>\n

Dear Hallmark,<\/em><\/p>\n

Could we please have our Sunday back? See, on the very day when so many women and children are being bombarded with pictures and sentiments of motherhood \u2013 there are far more left with holes in their hearts. My friend whose heart\u2019s desire to have a child \u2013 can she have a little break?\u00a0 My dear friend whose kids have abandoned the family and the faith \u2013 they really can\u2019t handle the photos of a perfect family dinner. Please leave them alone for a little while, or better yet \u2026 maybe offer them something which can actually sustain.<\/em><\/p>\n

For all of you who are irritated right now about my inability to spend a day focused on the beauty of mothers \u2013 I get it. You\u2019re thinking, \u201cdoesn\u2019t the Bible talk about honoring mothers and family and being a good parent?\u201d Yes, I know, it\u2019s there \u2013 it\u2019s throughout the scriptures. Please pastors, when you get to the place in the Bible that speaks to this, please tell us about honoring mothers and being mothers, and loving mothers\u2026<\/p>\n

But please, I beg you \u2013 give us Jesus too. Give us motherhood in the context of the whole of scripture, bathed in the redeeming love of Christ.\u00a0Make Him the center of the story, even on Mothers Day.<\/p>\n

No matter how you frame it, we moms long for more than this day can offer.\u00a0 This holiday is tied up in one\u2019s success or failure as a mother, one\u2019s joy in having children, or sorrow in missing them. It\u2019s so man\u2013centered. And any time, we put too much confidence in people (even those adorable, smiling children on the Mother\u2019s Day commercials) \u2013 we shouldn\u2019t be surprised when we are often left empty.<\/p>\n

Although I love my children\u2019s creative gifts and attempts at serving, the whole day (and the lead-up to it) is honestly quite a struggle for me.\u00a0 All of the \u201cfamily perfection\u201d thrust upon us \u2013 in the name of honoring us or simply selling us peanut butter \u2014 makes my inadequacies so plain. I\u2019m not perfect, my children aren\u2019t perfect, and my meals never look like June Cleaver\u2019s. Not even on Thanksgiving. As I\u2019ve aged, I\u2019ve grown to appreciate how this time of the year leads me to some hard places. I pull out the memory box and cry. Some years, I visit my mom\u2019s grave. Others, I try to push her memory from my mind.<\/p>\n

And I know other moms must feel the same way.\u00a0 So, to all your other imperfect moms who feel like Mother\u2019s Day is more like ripping off a Band Aid slowly than a day of honor, take comfort.<\/p>\n

Monday\u2019s coming.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"