Mother’s Day. Ask a dozen folks what memories come to mind on this day, and you will get a dozen different responses. Joy! They have or had a marvelous relationship with their mom. Hearts overflowing with gratitude having loved and being loved. Grief. Perhaps the grief is the physical death or grief over unfulfilled dreams and expectations. Loss may be due to different causes, but the heartache remains.

1 Kings 3:16-22;  Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house. Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house. And this woman's son died in the night because she lay on him. And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast. When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.” But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is yours, and the living child is mine.” Thus they spoke before the king.

So, two women come to Solomon and claim the other took their infant son because the other baby boy died. What would you do? I would most definitely seek the ruling of someone in an official capacity! Outrage and despair combined I’m sure. Justice to set the wrong right, and the real mother feeling the warmth of her infant son back in her arms. Indescribable joy!

Read what happened next in 1 Kings 3:23-28; Then the king said, “The one says, ‘This is my son that is alive, and your son is dead’; and the other says, ‘No; but your son is dead, and my son is the living one.’” And the king said, “Bring me a sword.” So, a sword was brought before the king. And the king said, “Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one and half to the other.” Then the woman whose son was alive said to the king, because her heart yearned for her son, “Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means put him to death.” But the other said, “He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide him.” Then the king answered and said, “Give the living child to the first woman, and by no means put him to death; she is his mother.” And all Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.

This is the heartbeat of a mother. A heart that would forfeit having her child rather than proving she was right. Her life interwoven with her sons. She did not need to lower herself to the level of the other woman, who had no problem replacing her deceased baby boy with the other woman’s living son. A woman who wanted her child to live, even if it meant not raising him herself. Selfless bravery. Sacrificing her need for her sons best in spite of the cost.

God fashioned the heart of a mother. Loving. Nurturing. Putting aside her desires for her child. When I became pregnant with my first child, God was able to awaken my heart. It wasn’t about me anymore. I wanted to be the best I could be, and things began to shift internally. Nineteen months after he was born, his baby brother joined our family. Six months after that, I opened my heart to Jesus and was born again! God used those little boys to draw me to himself. Life has never been the same. Richer. Sweeter. Fulfilling.

I have made many mistakes in my life as a mom. I will not recount them here and it would be pointless anyway. Because God replaced my heart of stone and gave me a heart of flesh, I had the heartbeat of a mother. (Ezekiel 36:26) I was able to put their needs before my own and I believe I would have laid my life down for them. Imperfectly? Yes. Sincerely? Absolutely. My sons have not been little boys for a very long time, yet my love for them has never waned. I think of them every single day and will pray for them as long as I have breath.

If you are still blessed to have your mother, praise God. If the relationship is strained or broken, remember this is a result of living in a broken and sin saturated world. God's original design was for flawless, loving bonds.

On this Mother’s Day of 2025, may you sense the perfect love of Jesus Christ. His heart is for you, he will never fail and will never leave or forsake you. The heartbeat of a mother is born out of our perfect, loving Father.