Like Mary, the mother of Jesus, my mother said “yes” to love and faith, knowing that God would be with her as she raised children while living with cancer. She read her Bible when she couldn’t sleep at night and left it open. She visited the sick and grieving and took me along. She prayed every morning, was active at church, and taught me the importance of belonging to a strong faith community. She had joy in her soul that I believe came from her faith in God.
I hold her biological DNA in my cells, along with DNA from ancestors who lived thousands, and perhaps millions of years ago.
But we also hold spiritual DNA in ourselves, from our mothers and our Biblical foremothers alike. Ruth, Naomi, Susannah, Judith, Bathsheba, Elizabeth, Anna and all the rest – they’re in our family tree, all part of our spiritual DNA.
May we learn their stories, hold them close to our hearts and pass them on to the next generation of daughters in the faith.
This message is excerpted from “Rediscovering Motherhood, it’s not just DNA” by Lindsay Hardin Freeman in the May 2016 Gather magazine.
This Mother’s Day, remember or honor your mother or a mother-figure in your life with a gift to 2122: Growing Katie’s Fund for the next 100 years. Make that gift this month and it will be matched, up to $25,000, through a generous gift of Barbara Thistle. Learn more.
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