Bitter Sweet

I’ve never quite worked out Mothering Sunday.  But that’s my problem.  Lots of people come to church … it’s obviously very important to them … there are parents and children and grandparents and flowers and the first sniff of spring.  Down in Dollar today, we had seven confirmations and there was a real sense of the importance family.  But somehow, in the middle of all that, one has to try and remember that the stable family unit of mum, dad and 2.4 children isn’t the norm it once was.  There are single people – single by choice and single not by choice.  There are people who have lost children before and after birth.   There are people struggling with childlessness and infertility.  There are people who have given children for adoption and wonder where they are.  There are parents and grandparents who do not see their children because of divorce and remarriage.  It’s impossible – but what redeems it is the remarkable ability of children just to be children and to leave the anguish and the complications to the adults.