Episode 67 - How do we "mother" those around us - create space for the Spirit

We are all mothers - entrusted to care for those around us - we have to have the faith to allow the space for the Spirit to be present and guide 

Transcript

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This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine. Hello and welcome to Shine. I'm your host, Nicole Florence. And for many of you, um happy Mother's Day. This was yesterday. And I wanted to kind of spend the week talking a little bit about being a mother. You know, yes, traditionally we think about a mother being someone who is a biological parent, someone who birthed a child. But I I think we need to have a greater understanding of what a mother is in terms of a person who nurtures, a person who maybe is in a position of authority. And for anyone who is considered a mother, biological or not, we know that part of what their gifts are through the spirit are all those fruit of the spirit, right? Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. All of those fruit of the spirit are truly what's needed to mother those around us. You know, I I am so incredibly blessed. You know, my mother, uh, my biological mother, um, the woman who birthed me is still on this earth. So I I know what a blessing that is and how much she has shaped who I am. But for many, they may not have had their true mother, so to speak, as a guide. They may have had uh older siblings, they may have had aunties and uh cousins and neighbors and grandmothers. And for some of us, we are mothered along our path. Um, you know, as a physician, when I went through my residency, you know, I had my children um during that four-year residency, and to do so, you know, 28 years ago, it was tough. You know, not many people were doing that then. And I really needed my uh mothers, uh, which were the nurses, you know, in the clinic, which were the nurses who were maybe uh on the floor, the charge nurses that you know really nurtured and mothered me when I needed it during, you know, a lot of difficult days and hours and times when I needed it. So we all have this gift of mothering, so to speak, and it's important for us to uh see those who need it, to see you know what fruit of the spirit that we um can give to them. So we're gonna talk a little bit about that, and I wanted to start today about being in the gap. Um when we look at scripture, there are so many examples of mothers and how they guided the path of those that were entrusted in their care. And one of the things that I love about scripture is it reminds me of the things that I need to do as I mother my own children, my bonus children, my you know, grandchildren, but even the friends and family and those that I have been entrusted with. And I think about Moses' mom, Yachbed, I hope I pronounced that correctly, um, who you know completely defiled the king's order and was like, not my child, not today, and put her son Moses in that little uh basket and pushed him down um the Nile. I I couldn't imagine the amount of faith that it took to separate from her child, uh knowing the political climate that was there, knowing that he could be in danger if she was not right there with him, not to mention the physer of whatever could have been in the Nile, or even if that thing was gonna float, and to create enough space between her and her child to allow the spirit to do the work. You know, I think about Hannah who prayed so fervently for her son, Samuel, and when it was time and when he was weaned, she gave him to the priest, Eli. Um, so she followed through with God, this child that you've given me, I'm gonna give back to you. But to do so, she had to physically separate herself and entrust the spirit to be in the gap and be in the space where she could not be there to care and to guide her son. And you know, I did some faith-based counseling for quite some time. Um, I truly recommend it, well, I recommend therapy. Um, but one of the greatest things that my therapist said to me when I was struggling on having to make some very difficult decisions, she told me you need to create enough space between you and your child to let the spirit do the work. And I think we are taught to be in such close proximity, and we are the only ones that can fix and do and guide and protect. We have to remember that our children, our friends, family, those who we are entrusted to nurture and to guide, the spirit is present with us. And we need to create sometimes enough space for the spirit to do the work. And that's part of our fruit of the spirit in terms of our faithfulness. So I want you to remember that as you are thinking about those who you are nurturing, that it's important to create and allow enough space for God the Spirit to do some of the work. And that can look so different, it can look like deep pauses, it can look like uh deep prayers instead of pouncing and fixing, it can look like asking for the spirit to guide. Sometimes it can be actually creating a physical space to allow the spirit to be there. So I hope and pray as you think about those who God has entrusted you to nurture, to lead, to guide as a mother of those around you, that you are creating space for the spirit to be there as well. So I hope you'll join me this week as we look at scripture and uh some of the parables that really teach us how to mother those around us. Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine.