Jesus Christ suffered unimaginable pain and anguish for each of us. He did this because He loves us and was willing to undergo incredible strain on His body, His emotions, and His soul so that we could live through His labors and travails. The closest thing to which Jesus Christ could compare the depth of His pain and sorrow and the depth of His love for us is the pain that a mother endures for her children and the love that she feels for them. “Can a woman forget her sucking child, that she should not have compassion on the son of her womb? yea, they may forget, yet will I not forget thee.” (Isaiah 49:15). The Lord loves and honors mothers for their capacity to suffer for their children and to love them with the pure love of Christ. He repeatedly compares His care and compassion and His urgent desire for our safety and happiness to that of a mother hen gathering in her chicks. He also shows how the sorrows we endure as we take up our cross and follow Him and the joys we feel after our trials have ended are most similar to a mother delivering her child. “Verily, verily, I say unto you, That ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice: and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world. And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.” (John 16:20-22). No one can take away from a mother the pain and the labor and the travail that she has endured for her children, and likewise none can take from a mother the joy and the love that a mother has for her children. Mothers will not forget their children and Jesus will not forget us.
