Mother’s Day Challenge
The Mother’s Day Challenge is an opportunity to participate in a group spiritual practice with other members of Good Shepherd.
Before I lay out the challenge here’s some background. In the lead up to Mother’s Day I asked myself this question: What is the greatest gift my mother has given me over the course of my life? There are probably a lot of good answers, but one rose to the top. Somehow my mother passed on to me her love of the Bible and her passion for all the stories collected in our sacred text. She taught me that the Bible contains treasure that I can search for and then apply to my actual life. These days my mother and I both swear the Bible has been revised nearly every time we read it because we’re always finding something new, something we swear we’ve never seen before. The text seems to contain infinite treasure. If you look you will find it. The great gift she gave me is a passion for searching through the biblical text for treasure that I can use in my actual life.
As Mother’s Day approached I also found myself thinking about Jesus’ mother, Mary. One of the Biblical treasures I found a few years ago is a line from Mary. In the second chapter of John’s Gospel, Jesus and Mary are both at a wedding. At the party after the ceremony the wine runs out. Mary wants Jesus to help, so she says to the stewards at the party, “Do whatever he tells you.” Full stop, that’s all she says. I think it’s the most powerful and important line in the first half of the Gospel. I really do. See, the stewards do exactly what Jesus tells them to do and a miracle follows. Water is turned into wine. The takeaway is not that we can turn water into wine, it is that when we do “Whatever Jesus tells us to do” wild, wonderful, game-changing, love-soaked, miraculous things can happen.
For instance, Jesus told us in the Gospel to bless those who curse us. I wonder what would happen if we actually did that?
That’s the Mother’s Day Challenge. Do something that Jesus has told us to do and see what happens. Here’s how it works:
Find 1-7 things in the Gospels that Jesus tells us to do. Pick one if you want to do the same thing every day for a week. Pick seven if you want to try a different one each day for a week.
Write the thing(s) he tells you to do on a piece of paper that you will keep close at hand to be used during your morning routine.
When you wake up, look at the sheet and ask God to help you do what Jesus has told you to do. Then read the instruction out loud - i.e. Bless those who curse you. Say this short prayer, “God, I intend to bless those who curse me today, and I am going to need your help. Please help me to do what Jesus has told me to do just like his mother, Mary, said. Amen.”
Then seize every opportunity you have during the day to do what Jesus has told you to do.
At the end of each day do a little personal inventory using questions like these: How do I feel inside? Better? Worse? Do I feel more compassion for myself and others? Do I feel more love welling up inside me? Do I feel more connected to Jesus? Was the task hard? Easy?
See what happens….
Repeat daily for a week and then share about it with a Good Shepherd friend or staff member.
Don’t judge yourself. You’re not trying to get it right. We’re all just following Jesus trying our best to do what he tells us to do, so that his “joy may be in us and our joy may be complete.” The Mother’s Day Challenge should be challenging, but also fun!
If you are not sure where to start with finding the things that Jesus has told us to do here are some tips and suggestions.
The Sermon on Mount in Matthew chapters 5, 6, and 7 contains tons of treasure! There are great lists in that sermon of things Jesus wants us to do.
The Sermon on the Plain in Luke chapter 6 also contains lots of material for the Mother’s Day Challenge.
The Farewell Discourse in John chapters 13 - 17 contains gold that you can sift through to make your list of things Jesus has told us to do.
Finally, here’s a partial list ready-to-use for those who are short on time.
Pray for those who abuse you
Turn the other cheek
Be merciful
Do good expecting nothing in return
Do not condemn
Forgive
Take the log out of your own eye before pointing out the speck in your neighbor’s eye
Pay attention to your words, words matter and can be used to injure
Build your house on rock - that is, establish a solid foundation for the day by praying
Work on your anger
Reconcile with those with whom you have difficulty
Give to everyone who begs from you
Love your enemies
Love people who are hard to love
Try silent prayer
Pray the Lord’s prayer
Don’t draw attention to yourself
Do not worry
Forgive those who have offended you.
Forgive those who have offended you again.
Forgive without concern for who is guilty
Do not judge
Do to others as you would have them do to you
Stick up for those who are being bullied
Love God with all your heart
Feed the hungry
Help the poor
Comfort the sorrowful
Do not be afraid
Enjoy the Mother’s Day Challenge!