Last night, I was disturbed by a dream that left me
searching for my son. I had sent him off
somewhere not knowing exactly where he was going and two days later I realized
he wasn’t coming back so I searched for him relentlessly, afraid that I may
have lost him forever. I asked family
and friends if they had seen him, which left them accusatory to say the least
at my lack of responsibility in protecting this ten year old boy’s safety. The
ten year old boy I love the most in the entire world.
I questioned my own
sanity in letting him go by himself and not having any way of contacting him. I
felt like he had gone into an abyss that we could never get him back from. My
dream turned into a nightmare.
Thankfully though, I woke to find that this was not at all true and that
my son was indeed still laying upstairs safely in his bed. Relief.
Not so for another
mother we encountered this week though;
Not so for yet another one we have met in these last five months and
again not even for another mother we are reflecting on this season. Let me tell you about these three mothers:
1.
We have just moved into a new place in the west
south corner of Addis Ababa. The suburb is developing fast and many foreigners
as well as Ethiopian people are moving into this area, showing promise for
business owners and landlords who have built homes in the area anticipating
that this would happen. The area also
leads onto the new highway that runs south to places like Debre Zeit (our old
home city), Nazaret and Awash National Park.
There is a bustling supermarket and
business building that is frequented by many middle class and well-to-do
customers. Knowing this, many beggars stand stationed outside with their
children, trying to make the most of the opportunities that will avail them.
Unfortunately though, as we found out,
these children are being put at risk as they follow people across the busy
street chasing that coin, that birr, that piece of bread…which is so much less
than they ACTUALLY need. My heart broke
as we encountered the enormity again of the need here and our insufficiency to
meet the needs.
Thursday came and Asaua and I went to do
our shopping with our friend in her car to this particular supermarket which
seems to be the closest thing to our western supermarket experiences (bar the
security checks at the door and the potential power outages). I had forgotten the wallet on the first trip
so a couple of hours later, Asaua had to make a second trip to pay for and
collect the food. As he was getting
ready to pay and leave, the driver came in to warn him that there had been an
accident outside. One of the beggar boys
had been hit by a passing vehicle and he lay dead in his mother’s grieving
arms. People surrounded them to pass
blame on this mother for allowing her son to be out begging with her while she
wailed; Asaua catching a glimpse of his limping legs still lying on the road
that claimed his life. Cars came to a halt to bypass the boy who needed
bypassing just a few minutes earlier. A
life not yet lived, was taken away and a mother lost her son in one Thursday
afternoon excursion. The loss of that mother rang wild in my soul as Asaua
reported what had happened on his return. Oh, Lord Jesus, you know the pain
that grieved her heart.
2.
Five
months ago as we prepared to leave Ethiopia, a lovely lady had been put in
contact with me as a potential partner with the work that we are involved
with. As it turned out, she ended up
being the answer to our prayer for accommodation in Sydney as we prepared to stay
near my sister’s house in the “Hills District” of this huge city. She lived only six kilometres away from where
my mum and sister’s family were living.
As we entered into her home, we heard this
mother’s loss of her dear son. Nine
years earlier, her son had left his home country with his wife to be missionaries
in Ethiopia. After he had arrived, our host (his mother) had visited him and
they had a good time together exploring the country he had then made his
home. After her return to Australia, a
few months down the track, she was alerted to the fact that her son was in a
fatal fall during a rainy night excursion out onto the roof of a building that
needed some maintenance.
As we heard her story, we sensed her pain
and empathized with the loss this family had experienced as the result of his
obedience to God’s call on his life to go to Ethiopia. It doesn’t make sense
yet we have heard it time and time again. Mother’s losing children on the
mission field. What pain they must endure to not have to just say goodbye once,
but to say goodbye till eternity they meet.
A mother’s loss of a son surfacing in an ocean of pain. Grief unbearable without the strength of One
who carries heavy burdens.
3.
The third woman that comes to mind is the one to
whom we see around us in Nativity scenes and on Christmas Cards this
season. Two thousand plus years ago, she
was chosen to give birth to the Messiah. “The One who was and is and is to
come.” He was to be conceived of the Holy Spirit in HER womb and to be raised
in her home under the love of her arms only to then be given over to a
horrendous death in which she would be witness to. He was to be the propitiation for our
sins. Yet she took on the challenge and
trusted God with her son. She
surrendered her body, her life, her grief to the One who had seen the beginning
from the end.
I wonder if she sensed the loss from the
beginning, forming attachments with her beloved son – a son who did not sin! A
son who did no wrong and could not have caused her harm if he had tried; her
love for him would have been untainted by hurt or pain. Yet she awaited the time when what the world
would do to him would bring the greatest hurt and pain a mother could
endure. Yet she loved and protected him,
chasing him down also when he seemed to go missing yet was about his Father’s
business. You can read about that story in Luke 2:41-52
Though this wasn't the greatest loss this mother was to experience, it was the taste of what was yet to come. In the event of her greatest loss, Jesus comforted her and gave her a "replacement" son, John. She then got to know the joy of His Resurrection before anyone else did as she met him outside his tomb. This is the hope that we have. The story does not finish at her loss, but rather in her regaining her Son in His Resurrection moment. This too we can partake in as we receive Eternal Life thought the very act Mary lived to grieve. Do you know that Eternal Hope? It is yours for the taking.
He truly came to bring...
JOY TO THE WORLD!
Though this wasn't the greatest loss this mother was to experience, it was the taste of what was yet to come. In the event of her greatest loss, Jesus comforted her and gave her a "replacement" son, John. She then got to know the joy of His Resurrection before anyone else did as she met him outside his tomb. This is the hope that we have. The story does not finish at her loss, but rather in her regaining her Son in His Resurrection moment. This too we can partake in as we receive Eternal Life thought the very act Mary lived to grieve. Do you know that Eternal Hope? It is yours for the taking.
In this season where the focus is on a Son, know that it encompasses the awaiting loss, an expected grief and that in that grief, He is not unaware of yours.
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