An Ideal Mother?

‘You’re not natural’ screams Mrs Kidd at Marlene, in the play Top Girls. This is not, in fact,  an attack on Marlene’s mothering skills, but because she refuses to give up her position of director of the Top Girls employment agency to a man – Howard Kidd- who has been passed over in the selection for that  post. Yet we find that the insult could well apply to Marlene as a mother, as the last act of the play reveals. Here we discover that Angie a girl who ‘will not make it’ in Marlene’s world is, in fact Marlene’s daughter, brought up by her sister, Joyce, as her own child. To make this worse, Joyce lost her own baby in the early struggles with a howling Angie. Since then Marlene has ‘forgotten ‘ birthdays of her own daughter and admits Christmases ‘come and go’ and furthermore has had two abortions – all for the sake of her ambitions.

How differently we viewed mothers yesterday, Mothering Sunday, with plenty of examples of   good mothering before us, particularly that of Mary, mother of Jesus. Shocked by the appearance of an angel and his news, even so she could acquiesce willingly, ’Here am I, the servant of the Lord: let it be with me according to your word.’ Soon she was to know that motherhood was not just a time of joy but also a time of heartache when she was told by Simeon, ‘A sword will pierce your own soul too,’  perhaps looking towards that time when she stands near the cross on which Jesus hangs.

As we look at and give thanks for the example of Mary, of our own  mothers, for the mothering shown to us, let us pray:

In our busy days we often take for granted the love and kindness of our mothers. We ask your blessing on them, Lord, and help us to show understanding of and care for them and to show our gratitude for their love. Amen