MAMA

A mother is a biological and/or social female parent of an offspring. Because of the complexity and differences of a mothers' social, cultural, and religious definitions and roles, it is challenging to define a mother to suit a universally accepted definition.

(here's my definition - somewhat)

From the day I was conceived

You have lived to make my life

A living bliss

A blessed experience

A journey of love, laughter and joy

A lesson that love, pure love,

Will not only bring my heart joy

But also allow me proximity and intimacy with my Creator.

You allowed God to have His way in me

When you, carrying the body that would house my soul,

Prayed for my well being...

My successes, my prosperity, my health...

You, all my life, have carried me in you...

With you

Wherever you went

In the late hours of the night, you looked upon my countenance

And let love flood you and overflow unto me...

In the early hours of the morn, while I lay asleep,

You prayed for and with me,

Speaking life beyond that which you had already given me

You looked beyond my childhood folly

You saw beyond my youthful stupidity

You looked at me, my soul, and saw a woman

Well groomed, well trained

Brought up under the shadow of God’s mighty wing

You saw a matriarch

Trained up and prayed up in the Word of God Almighty

You looked into my soul, using my eyes as a door

And showing me that your eyes are the mirror to which I can run

To remind myself of that reflection,

The image of what the Lord spoke to you when you first carried me

You have watched me blossom, and many a times in pain

You have watched me struggle

As I learnt the hurt that comes with freedom

And the pain that accompanies dependence

You have let me learn my lessons

And also taught me yours

You have shared your pains with me and your joys and celebrations too

You have made your heart a salubrious* home for mine

And have translated that heart into the home I have always loved and call mine

Where would I be without the love of God expressed by and through you?

What would I have become had you not allowed God into your heart?

Where would I turn had you not shown me that indeed the Lord loves me so?

What would my dreams be had you not prayed that they be according to His will?

I thank you

For the life you’ve given

For the love you’ve shown

For the patience, the kindness, the selflessness,

The truth, the protection, the trust,

The hope, the perseverance...

I thank you

For the life you’ve spoken

For the love you’ve shared

For seeing the perfect in my imperfections

The innocence in my sin

I thank you

For the late nights spent loving me

For the hours dedicated to teaching me

For the pain with which you corrected me

For the courage with which you girded me

I thank you

For the family I too will one day grow

For the living ‘How-To and How-Not-To’ book you are

For the memories formed and still to come

For the pride with which I can look at you

And the love with which I can smother you

I thank you

For the life

For the love

I thank God for you...

Dedicated to my loving and lovely mother, Lephepelo Lulu Oratile Dhladhla (nee Mokorosi).

Indeed the Lord has loved me so (oratile) by giving me you. I LOVE YOU TOO!

Prov 31:28 >HER CHILDREN ARISE AND CALL HER BLESSED<

Outrageous Love

"O give thanks unto the Lord, for He is good; His love [mercy] endureth forever" - Ps 136:1

I was overwhelmed by the magnitude and resilience of God's love for us - especially because I know many a times my love for certain people has faded after and argument or when they just seemed to stop caring.
God wants to love on us. He wants us to immerse ourselves in His abundant and plentiful love.... It is so abundant it can never and will never run out (i'm not trying to quantify love here, but i'm simply trying to put things into perspective here).
It's impossible for God to stop loving us because He is LOVE. Everything that comes from God is love:

 The rising sun,

The shining stars,

The raging seas,

The wildebeest in the wild,

The laughter of a child...

 All these things and more are but a glimpse of God's love for us. Think about it this way: He loves us so much, He placed us far enough from the sun so we wouldn't burn up yet close enough for us to be sustained. WOW! If that's not amazing enough, consider this: He knows us all by name - all 6 billion odd of us (how many people do you know by name...and not only that, but their address, their birthday, their number, their family, their habits.... everything?). He knows the number of hairs on our head - all 6 BILLION odd of us. And He's watching us all the time so much that when even one hair falls off, He smiles within Himself and says "OH... My son/daughter wouldn't be too happy if they knew about that one too...". Hahahahaha.... Praise God.
If still that's not good enough then try this: 2000 odd years ago, a man - the only SON OF GOD -  bruised and battered hung on a cross in pain, anguish and loss.... His body ached everywhere, His tongue was parched, His head throbbing from thorns digging into His skull.... Blood flowing out of His body like a river, holes in His wrists and feet, disgrace upon Him as the insults of those who wanted Him dead reached His ears.... worst of all, THE EYES OF THE FATHER GOD TURNED AWAY FROM HIM!
If that's not pure, true and awesome love.... Actually it is not. It is far more than that, if one cannot but marvel at it, woe to them.

That was a gesture of love.... one that cannot and should not be forgotten nor appreciated.
On the Cross, Jesus died to display first and foremost Gods love for us.... That love that has been there for all days and will be there for eternity. What will be our reaction?                                       1 John 4 : 10

If God were sitting across you right now and was watching you read about this account of His ultimate Gift, what would your reaction be? Here's mine:

" You demonstrated Your outrageous love for me 

when arms spread wide,

feet nailed for dead wood,

a head bearing a crown of thorns,

flesh torn apart,

marrow exposed,

spirit tormented,

the eyes of the Father cast away...

You, the defensible Prince of Peace,

were subjected to the cruelest and vilest form of punishment and crime...

You, the Lover of my soul,

bore it all in Love...

You hung there expressing the divine love that brings me now to your feet,

in lyrical adoration,

devout in my passion,

outrageous in my expression...."

Taken from a poem I co-wrote with a dear friend and beloved daughter of God

" I can never express nor explain it... Neither will I ever fully fathom God's love for me but I worship Him for WHO HE IS..."

NO GREATER LOVE

"It simply cannot be put into words... His love for us is far greater than we can ever begin to fathom."

It's Spring day today and the rain is pouring down the blessings of God on us. Though many associate Spring day with new beginnings and buds freeing themselves from the pain on not blooming, I see it as a symbolic day of cleansing and starting-over with God. So many of us have fallen into the trend of 'a dead spiritual life' or perhaps 'a dead relationship/friendship' or any other thing and all we want to do.... is start again.

All this is possible... We are allowed to start-over, to turn a new page and start a new chapter  - all under the grace and love of God. We are allowed to come out of alienation from God and be reconciled with the One and Great Love. We are allowed to prostrate ourselves before the Almighty in an utter sense of pure and holy worship, total surrender and say "God... wash me clean and make me holy in Your sight".

But we are not to end with that statement. We must be active in our faith, established and firm and not moved from the feet of God. (Col 1: 21 - 23).
We must stay at His feet, were there is security, freedom, joy, peace and that NO GREATER LOVE. We must stay CAGED IN HIS LOVE - for there we will find freedom.


For me, today I start a blog.  My mission: To glorify God. To be a blessing to all who read it and draw many to the warm and welcoming arms of God the Father. I, his daughter, dedicate this blog to drawing His children nearer to Him, to spurring His servants on in our Great Commission, to simply praising Him and adoring Him... Worshiping Him.


Today.... To GOD BE THE GLORY.