This coming Sunday is Mother’s day. It can be a wonderful day of celebrating the women in our lives, however it can also be a difficult day for so many. People who, have lost mothers; or are estranged from their mothers; or may not even know who their biological mother is.

When my parents came from India, they didn’t know a soul in Canada. Their biological families lived thousands of miles away in a time when a telegram was the quickest form of communication. If you don’t know what a telegram is, google it ;)

When I was 6 or 7 years old — after my parents separated — a sweet elderly couple ‘adopted’ my mother as one of their own. Grace had become my mother’s “Canadian” mother. Grace, and her husband Dave, loved my mom, and cared for her. They helped her in so many ways and they wanted nothing in return. They had become her Canadian parents and by extension, I had adopted grandparents who showed me incredible love and care.

Certainly it was different than a legal adoption of a child, but for me at that time, it was no different. I would visit them after school and they always welcomed me with cookies and juice. We played card games together and they always showed interest in what I made in school. (I made some awesome stuff, by the way! ) and exhibited such pride when I showed them my report card. Though we were not related by blood there was no doubt that we had become a part of their family.
That sense of being a part is only a glimpse of what it is like with God.

Not only has God forgiven us, justified us, and given us free access into His presence, but God has also adopted us into God’s family. Paul writes in Ephesians 1:4-5 (NLT)

4 Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. 5 God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure.

I stand in awe of a God who has the power and desire to forgive me. But by adopting us, God is going further. God is saying, "Don't just stand there in awe of me. Come close to me." Adoption speaks of a close relationship. And God says, "I want you as my daughter. I want you as my son”.

Whatever your family situation, whether you celebrate Mother’s day or not, I pray you will remember that because of your faith in Jesus, you are part of the family of God forever… and that is something to celebrate.