Mother's Day

By Caitlin
Popular Christian author Anne Lamontt recently published an article in response to Mothers’ day arguing that we should not celebrate Mothers’ day (she encourages her son not to) because it discriminates against those women who are not mothers by reinforcing the notion that women who have children are more valuable than those who do not. Read the full article here

While I agree with her that the notion that the value of a woman (or any person) lies in her ability to bear children is a terribly destructive idea, I have to disagree that the concept of having a day to honor those women who happen to be mothers necessarily promotes this idea. I acknowledge that there are people and groups out there that use mothers’ day as a day to make money or in a way that excludes other people. Certainly church services that are acknowledging mothers should be sensitive to these issues.

My understanding of these sorts of holidays is not that they value some in exclusion of others, but that they value the particularity of some people for the work they have done. On Veterans Day I have never felt that valuing veterans devalues me as a non-veteran. Presidents Day doesn’t make me feel undervalued as a non-president. Secretaries Day does not hurt my feelings because I am not a secretary. These special holidays are days to honor specific groups of people not because they are better than others or because they are a more important part of society but because society has chosen these days in particular to show appreciation for these groups.

As Christians who believe God values all of humanity and every particular human, it is important that we recognize and affirm the value of all people as well as people in particular. I think this includes taking the time to honor particular groups of people. In the same way we can value that Jesus was a particular human being, a male and a Jew, born on a particular place and time but that does not mean that those people who do not share these things in common are any less valued or loved by God. To be sure the church has not always made this distinction clear, in fact it has sometimes missed it completely. But it is imperative that we chose to make the distinction that we can value individuals without undervaluing others because to choose not to value particularity is choosing to ignore the unique gifts that God gives to particular people.

So I say value mothers and non-mothers alike because they are all children of God. Particularity doesn’t mean exclusivity. Our ability to value specific individuals and groups is not limited—just because we value mothers does not mean we are now out of appreciation and do not have the ability to value non-mothers. In fact, I find it more true that remembering to value my mother reminds me to value all of those people who have nurtured me throughout my life, mothers or not. It reminds me to pray for those people who have lost their mothers or who desire to have children but cannot. Choosing to show love begets more love not less. Now go call your mom!