Three persons: ELKANAH, the male, the man and father; He has two wives: one to give him children and one whom he loves with all his heart. He has got it made!
He is quite satisfied with himself. Full of self-importance! He feels his love for Hannah is worth the same as having 10 sons. He is hurt, that she can't see it that way and reproaches her for being sad. Does he. not know about the rivalry and the cruelty of Peninnah? Does he not know how he himself contributes to Hannah's feelings of unworthiness? Insensitive, to say the least!
PENINNAH: The triumphant mother. Glorying in her fruitfulness. Cruel in her tormenting of the other woman. Yet, is it not a sad thing for her, that apparently her husband does not love her for herself? She is only important as the mother of his children. She may satisfy his physical needs; she does not satisfy his other needs and does not arouse his love. That must have hurt her and she takes this hurt out on Hannah.
She too is totally insensitive to Hannah's feelings.
And then there is HANNAH. Sad, desperately unhappy Hannah. Living in a household where no-one understands her. Hannah the non-mother. She is a product of the society in which she lives. A society, that sees a female's life as a ascending line: From girl to woman to wife to mother. Motherhood as the fulfilment supreme. Motherhood as the pinnacle of success.
Today we honour our mothers. For our mothers, your mother, my mother are very special. The tie that binds each person to his or her mother consists of two strands to start with:

1. the basic physical, biological tie: you grew inside her body; she brought you into the world. She is the one that gave you your life.

2. there is also the strand of need, of dependence: Mother is the provider of food, of care, comfort and safety. This strand grows thinner and thinner - more the child grows up and becomes self-sufficient. More and more it gets replaced by the third strand:

3. the strand of independent love. This is the strand that is most important after the child has grown up. When he or she loves, respects and honours mother for herself, for her personality and her special qualities.
It is sad, that this last strand does not always develop into a strong lasting part of the tie between mother and child. For nothing is more wonderful for a mother than to have her child as her greatest friend and the other way round.
Mothers day has been commercialised. And in the advertising around Mothers day you can notice that the ideas from the 0.T. times of Elkanah, Peninnah and Hannah have still not totally died out. Instead of encouraging us to remember our mother and all she stands for, many ads seem to glorify motherhood. Motherhood as the pinnacle of achievement.
Away from ads, the IVF program and abortion debate show the high priority of fertility and motherhood.

Please don't get me wrong. I am not saying that motherhood is not a miracle. That the part we as humans, male and female, play in creating a new human being, is NOT a wonderful thing, a mystery and a miracle and a God given blessing. As long as it is not divorced from responsibility.
To glorify "motherhood" for itself and call it a wonderful blessing is what I want to protest against!
For if motherhood happens to a teenage schoolgirl, would you still call it a wonderful blessing?
And even more important: If we glorify "motherhood", where does that leave the Hannahs amongst us?
Do we demote them to second rate women? No way! There are many different categories of non-mothers:

1. There are the Sisters of Mercy, Those women who made the decision after much soul-searching and prayer to dedicate their life to serving others. And sometimes they had the title Mother awarded to them as an honour, like Mother Teresa.

2. But there is another category: the ones who "missed out" or who through family circumstances never got a chance to get married and have children. They are the ones that stay home and end up looking after their aging parents, often until they are well over 50. They are the universal aunts, who are always available to baby-sit and sometimes function as substitute mothers when the mother of a household becomes ill or can't cope.

3. There are also the women, who decide not to become mothers. Sometimes for frivolous reasons, but often because they see the population explosion as one of the great threats to peace and prosperity and feel that it would be irresponsible to bring any more children into this world that is already bursting at its seams.

I feel that Mothers day should be "Mothering" day. A day on which we honour every-one who mothers others.
Then it would also not be so terribly female-orientated! Then we could also make room to honour and give credit to the almost forgotten group of mothering people: The deserted fathers. For they have to be father and mother at the same time and do as much mothering as any substitute-mother.
Motherhood and mother-love can't stand on their own. They are unbreakably bonded to fatherhood and father love. They are two sides of the same coin. The pure coin of love, caring, sharing and nurturing. The coin of love and life: physical love and life, family love and life as well as spiritual love and life.
Mothers day as Mothering -day would be a celebration of life, creation and pro-creation. It would be a day on which we remember and honour everyone who mothered us, never mind their gender.
Like that old lady I told the children about: everyone who mothered us and mothers others "like God the Father himself"!
Mothering like God the Father himself. 0h, I like that saying! It cuts out all our petty barriers, differentiating between father-love and mother-love, fatherhood and motherhood. And firmly points the finger to God himself, the only source of life and love, caring and sharing. "He mothered me like God the Father Himself"!
How thoroughly biblical that is.
Listen to Matthew 23:37: Jesus as a hen, wanting to nurture, protect and safeguard her chickens! What a picture of "mothering".
And Paul is good at it too:
Galatians 4: 19 . agonising like a woman in childbirth;
1 Thessalonians 2: 7 and 8:.Is that not the cry of any disappointed mother?

Mothering. It is an all-embracing word. Mothering like God the Father,

May this Mothers day be a mothering day for all of us: mothers and non-mothers, fathers and non-fathers. A day on which we honour and remember God's mothering of us above all else.
AMEN

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