What's a "Mama"?

Mama is what my two kids call me. They chose that name for me. A name I treasure being called. You see, my kids are my kids but they aren't my kids. In this thing called life, I have never birthed children of my own. Although it has been a deep desire of mine to carry a child in my womb and although I can, God had other plans. His plan was for me to be able to share all of my love with my step-kids, Olivia and Wolfgang.

I met my husband almost a year after I left a relationship of seven years. I wanted nothing more than to be a wife and to be a mom. I had so much love to give and wanted desperately to care for others. My puppy, a yellow lab named Trigger, was my love and my best friend at the time but as much as I wanted to just cuddle him, that lab loved a yellow tennis ball more than all else.

Sadly, I have to protect many details of my family for there is a strong spiritual warfare that wages on that we continue to battle. That does not diminish the beauty or the strength of the story of the four of us coming together. It was completely under God's design that we exist. From the beginning, it felt like I had known my husband for forever. That we always were. It was the same feeling with the kids. They would say to me, "It feels like we have known you forever."

The two of them were the ones that went to my husband one day earlier in our relationship, and asked him if they could call me "mom". It was the wisdom of my husband that discerned that although he knew they loved me as mom, they already called another mom.

The story goes, they pondered for a bit and threw out some ideas before settling on "mama". Mama. It means Mom. It is just semantics. It is the love, the purpose, the emotions, the intent behind the name that is what matters. For many of us that are not the "natural" mothers of the children we care for, we are placed into a different category of "parent", of "mother".

It is a painful differentiation in the world. One that truly doesn't grasp that a love so strong, a desire to protect loved ones at all costs, and a fierceness that burns deeply, does not rest in being the one that births a child. It is something that exists by God's hand in all forms of motherhood. Whether that is being a mother to an adopted or fostered child, a grandparent raising a grandchild, a dear friend or godparent that helps to raise another's children, or a step parent that has wonderfully inherited the blessing of children, mom, mama, mommy, it is all the same. The name is rooted in the love that God has given between a child and a parent.

As their Mama, I would do anything for them, fight any battle, wipe away any tear, pray a million prayers, or hold them until the end of time. I would give my life for theirs if it meant saving them. That is exactly what God did for us in giving us his son, Jesus. We are saved through a Father's love. A gift from the Holy Spirit sent to a woman who would become the mother of our Savior. A choice she did not choose but a gift she was given and accepted.

John 3:16-17- "16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him" (ESV).

God sent himself to us in the form of flesh and bone, to sacrifice himself to save us all from sin. We get to choose to call him Father. We get to choose to follow him. Just as our children choose to call us by a name and follow us in wisdom and guidance, we follow the Lord. His name and his love alone can save no matter which of his chosen names you call him by.

God. Jesus. Holy Spirit.

Mom. Mama. Mommy.

It isn't just a name. It is the love, the sacrifice, the tender care, the protection, the promise that is behind each word as it passes our lips and the lips of our children. What's a "Mama"? It is a name that is given and driven by God's love. A child.