Mother's Day 2007

INTRO.- ILL.- A drill sergeant was frustrated in his efforts to make a soldier out of a certain recruit. The trainee lagged behind on marches, used any excuse to go on sick call, grumbled constantly about the food, and never made his cot properly.

But one day, a noticeable change took place in the young man’s attitude. When asked to what he attributed the soldier’s change in attitude, the drill sergeant explained, "Threats and punishment didn’t work, so I had to resort to the ultimate weapon: I called his mother!"

I think most of us realize that some mothers can be an ultimate weapon to wake us up and shake us up, at least, when we were youngsters at home.

ILL.- It’s like that mother of Waynesburg, KY, Venus Ramey, Miss America 1944. Did you hear about her? SHE KNOWS HOW TO SHOOT A GUN! She fired a handgun to shoot out a vehicle’s tires and stop an intruder. Ramey, 82, confronted a man on her farm in south-central Kentucky not long ago after she saw her dog run into a storage building where thieves had previously made off with old farm equipment

Ramey said the man told her he would leave. "I said, ’Oh, no you won’t,’ and I shot their tires so they couldn’t leave," Ramey said.

She had to balance on her walker as she pulled out a snub-nosed .38-caliber handgun. "I didn’t even think twice. I just went and did it," she said. "If they’d even dared come close to me, they’d be 6 feet under by now."

She said, "I’m trying to live a quiet, peaceful life and stay out of trouble, and all it is, is one thing after another.” I would say you wouldn’t want to mess with that mother!

We’re here today to honor mothers, past and present. Some tough, some sweet, some compassionate, some passionate, etc.

ILL.- A London editor submitted to Winston Churchill for his approval a list of all those who had been Churchill’s teachers. Churchill returned the list with this comment: “You have omitted to mention the greatest of my teachers—my Mother.”

ILL.- Thomas Edison said, “I did not have my mother long, but she cast over me an influence which has lasted all my life. The good effects of her early training I can never lose. If it had not been for her appreciation and her faith in me at a critical time in my experience, I should never likely have become an inventor. I was always a careless boy, and with a mother of different mental caliber, I should have turned out badly. But her firmness, her sweetness, her goodness, were potent powers to keep me in the right path. My mother was the making of me. The memory of her will always be a blessing to me.” Praise the Lord!

PROP.- From Proverbs 31 I want to mention some things that mothers do in order to honor them today.

1- Her hands work

2- Her mouth speaks

3- Her heart loves

I. HER HANDS WORK

Can you see your mother’s hands? Can you see them at work?

ILL.- There is a cartoon that shows a mother in her home. Her hair is in disarray, kids are everywhere, and the house is in absolute shambles. Then her husband comes home from work all neatly dressed in coat and tie, carrying his briefcase.

She takes one look at him and He looks at her with a big question mark on his face. She tells him, "You come home every evening and ask what I do all day. Well, today I didn’t do it and here it is!"

ILL.- Joey Adams said: My friend Myron tells me, "Last year on Mother’s Day the whole family got together for a big dinner and afterward, when Mom started to clean up, I said to her, "Don’t bother with those dishes, Mom. Today is Mother’s Day, you can always do them tomorrow."

If anyone here today believes that moms don’t work, I would suggest that you not say anything!

In this text, we see that mothers do all kinds of work.

- She sews v. 13, 19, 22 "She selects wool...and works with eager hands."

- She shops v. 14 "bringing her food from afar."

- She cooks v. 15 "She provides food for her family..."

- She gardens v. 16 "She plants a vineyard..."

Our text also says that mothers v. 15 "get up while it is still dark" to prepare food. And v. 18 "her lamp does not go out at night."

"Man works from sun to sun, but woman’s work is never done."

v. 27 "She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread idleness." She isn’t lazy.

ILL.- When my twin sister Sharon and I were born in 1944 mom already had a three-year-old boy. I think all three of us were in diapers. No Pampers either. And no washer.