For Mothers' Day

Exodus 20:12

SERMON – A word for Mothers’ Day

I saw somewhere, ‘A Job Description for Mothers’.

1. This is a permanent job.

2. The successful applicant must be prepared to work hard.

3. The workplace is often a challenging and chaotic environment.

4. Applicants must possess excellent communication and organizational skills

and be willing to work variable hours,

which will include evenings and weekends and frequent 24 hour shifts on call.

5. Extensive chauffeuring duties also required, but your travel expenses will not usually be reimbursed.

6. Some overnight travel will be required,

including trips to camping sites on rainy weekends,

and countless sports tournaments in faraway places.

7. Must be willing to be hated, at least temporarily, until someone needs £5.

8. Must be willing to bite tongue repeatedly.

9. Must possess the physical stamina of a pack mule and be able to go from zero to 60 mph in three seconds flat in case, this time, the screams from the backyard are genuine, and not just someone crying wolf or playing.

10. Must be willing to face stimulating technical challenges, such as small gadget repair, mysteriously sluggish toilets and stuck zips.

11. Must screen phone calls, maintain calendars and coordinate production of multiple homework projects.

12. Must have ability to plan and organize social gatherings for clients of all ages and mental outlooks.

13. Must be willing to be indispensable one minute, an embarrassment the next.

14. HEALTH AND SAFETY: Must be able to handle the assembly and product safety testing of hundreds of toys and battery operated devices.

15. ATTITUDE AND DEMEANOUR: Must always hope for the best but be prepared for the worst. Must assume final, complete accountability for the quality of the end product.

16. Responsibilities also include floor maintenance, laundering and janitorial work throughout the place of employment.

17. PROMOTION PROSPECTS: None. Your job is to remain in the same position for years, without complaining, constantly retraining and updating your skills, so that those in your charge can ultimately surpass you.

18. PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: None required, because no other form of employment is totally relevant, but On-the-job in-service training is offered on a continually exhausting basis.

19. WAGES AND BONUSES: None; job satisfaction is what you hopefully receive.

20. OUTLAYS: You pay every bill for your child at least until turn 18 because of the assumption that college will help them become financially independent.

When you die, you give them whatever is left.

The strangest thing about this reverse-salary scheme is that you should enjoy it and wish you could only do more.

21. BENEFITS: While no health or dental insurance, no pension, no tuition reimbursement, no paid holidays and no bonuses are offered; this job supplies limitless opportunities for free hugs for life if you play your cards right.

22. TENURE: For the rest of your life.

Obviously some ‘tongue in cheek’ is contained here, but I am sure many mothers here will relate to some, if not all of it

NOW – a story illustrating the importance of mothers.

A girl came home from playing with a friend, a little later than expected,

so her mother immediately said "Mary, why are you late?"

Mary said, "I was walking home with Julie, when Julie dropped her doll and it broke".

"O, I see", said her mother, "so you stopped to help Julie fix her doll?"

"No," said Mary "we couldn't fix the doll, so I stayed and helped Julie to cry!"

That's called compassion, and Mary probably got that from her mother.

ANOTHER STORY - I read somewhere that in South America

members of a highland tribe came down and attacked a village of the lowland people.

The highlanders smashed up the village and left taking plunder including a baby.

The men of the lowland village were not very fit

and were afraid of going up into the mountains,

so when the baby's mother begged them to help her,

they just shrugged and went away with their heads down.

The baby’s mother set off up a path into the mountains and disappeared.

She was gone 2 days and 2 nights

but when she came back she was carrying her baby with her.

The men said "How could you, a mere woman, climb all the way up there

and face those ruthless tribesmen?"

"It was my baby", she replied.

What she did for her child, most women would do for theirs,

and that is what Jesus Christ did for us.

Even though we were far from perfect, he died for us.

The word ‘mother’ appears 42 times in the NIV.

It would be good to look at them all, but because of the limitations of time,

we will only look at some of them.

The first one is Genesis 2:24

which tells us that no matter how much someone loves their mother,