Mothers Influence Series

1. One man described his mother's influence in his life:

* My mother taught me RELIGION: "You better pray that will come of the carpet."

* My mother taught me LOGIC: "Because I said so, that's why."

* My mother taught me CONTORTIONISM: "Will you look at the dirt on the back of your neck!"

* My mother taught me STAMINA: "You'll sit there until ALL that spinach is gone."

2. Today is of course Mother's Day and it is a day to honor those women in our lives who have made an eternal difference: Birth mothers; adoptive mothers; grandmothers; aunts; etc.

3. Mothers have a powerful influence on their children and it is reflected in the amount of attention Mothers get that Fathers don't.

* Did you realize that there are more cards sent on Mother's Day than on Father's Day?

* There are more phone calls made on Mother's Day to moms than there are on Father's Day to dads.

Origin of Mother's Day

In 1872, the author of the Battle Hymn of the Republic, Julia Howe suggested the idea of a special day set aside to honor Mothers and celebrate peace, but the idea never took root. Never that is, until the early 20th century.

A couple years after her mother's death, Anna Jarvis held a ceremony to honor her late mother. The experience so moved her, that she began a campaign to establish a formal holiday to recognize mothers. West Virginia adopted the idea in 1910, other states followed their lead the next year and in 1914, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed the second Sunday of May "Mother's Day," a national holiday to honor mothers.

A few years later, Ms. Jarvis was arrested for disturbing the peace at a Mother's Day rally. Jarvis deplored the commercialization of the holiday. In 1923, she filed a law suit to stop a festival where the organizers were selling white carnations as a fund raiser on Mother's Day.

She didn't lead a campaign to begin this holiday so card companies and florists could make money, she wanted it to be a day that stirred sentiment in the children of the world. She was more successful in starting the day than stopping it. Regardless of some people's motives, the idea of honoring mothers was contagious.

Today, we are thankful for our Mothers and the care they give us. It is the right thing to do.

* Exodus 20.12 -- Honor your father and your mother that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

4. In times like these, we depend on Mothers of Influence

5. 2 Timothy 1.3-7 -- Lois -- Eunice -- Timothy

I. The Formulation of Faith -- Lois and Eunice

In 1995, Dave Thomas, the founder of Wendy's wrote in his book "Well Done!": "When I was 11 years old, my adoptive grandmother took me to Michigan's Gull Lake to be baptized by immersion. I really felt that I was accepted by God when I was baptized. But what I remember most about my baptism was that my Grandma Minnie MADE IT HAPPEN (emphasis mine). For her, Christianity meant more than doctrine you talked about on Sundays.... It meant teaching her grandson about faith."

A. Faith is meant to be Shared, especially at Home

1. The Progression: Borrowed Faith to Owned Faith

2. The Process: Deuteronomy 6.4-9

4 "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is one. 5 You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

a. Daily Devotionals -- every aspect of the day -- God is in the sunset and the sunrise, etc.

b. Intentional Teaching From the Teachers' Hearts

Near a church in Kansas, there are prints of two baby feet set in the cement of the sidewalk... with the toes pointing toward the Church. It's said that 20 years ago, when the sidewalk was being laid, a mother asked for permission to stand her baby boy on the wet cement. The tracks are still seen plainly today. That Mother had wanted her little boy to start well.

c. With Repetition (diligently) -- truths stick with us when we learn them early, Moms

d. With Visual Aid