Mother's Day 1/5: A Paradox of Weakness and Strength

Guest Blogger: Lynda Kong from Christ Church NYC.
Mother’s Day Talk: "The Paradox of Our Christian Identity."

Today is Mother’s Day (May 11), so I’d like to tell you a little about my mother, and then share some thoughts on the nature of our Christian life together.

My mother was raised in the rural village in Guangzhou, China, during Mao’s Cultural Revolution. When she was 15 years old, her father, who was an intellectual and the mayor of her village, was arrested by the Communists and taken to exile in Siberia. My mother practically never saw her father again.

She then met and married my father, and together they had four children. They brought us to New York City, when my mother was almost exactly the age that I am now, to start over in a foreign land, not speaking one word of English. And for the next 25 or so years, she worked in a garment factory, a sweatshop, near Canal Street, earning less than $20 a day.

She suffered through much fragility and anguish, with great physical frailty. But she did this with strength and endurance, always able to take care of the needs of the moment. Hers was a steady labor of love for me and my brother and sisters, as she held out the hope that our lives would be better than hers.

Now, while my mother is not yet a follower of Jesus, I have seen in her some Christian characteristics - fragility and suffering, courage and great joy.

Her life is a paradox of weakness and strength.

More to Come (This is 1/5 Posts)...

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Pic by Danpea.