Making Our Mother Happy
Text: Ruth 1:14
Introduction: If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!
1. Respect the Woman called Mother
Naomi, her husband and two sons fled the famine of Israel and moved to Moab. While there Naomi’s sons married Moabite girls. Tragedy struck when the husband and both boys lost their lives. Upon hearing God had provided for her homeland, she prepared to move back and only Ruth committed to going back with her. Naomi left ‘pleasant’ but returned bitter. Ruth 1:20-21
But she said to them, "Do not call me Naomi; call me Mara, for the Almighty has dealt very bitterly with me. [21] I went out full, and the Lord has brought me home again empty. Why do you call me Naomi, since the Lord has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me?"
Naomi face an uphill battle but Ruth had committed to do whatever was necessary to give her Mother-in-law every opportunity to return to her pleasant nature.
A. Being a Mother is not easy
A fifteen-year-old boy came bounding into the house and found his mom in bed. He asked if she were sick or something. He was truly concerned. Mom replied that, as a matter of fact, she didn’t feel too well. The son replied, “Well, don’t worry a bit about dinner. I’ll be happy to carry you down to the stove.
SOMEBODY SAID
Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you’ve had a baby.
Somebody doesn’t know that once you’re a mother, normal is history.
Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct.
Somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.
Somebody said being a mother is boring.
Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver’s permit.
Somebody said if you’re a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good."
Somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.
Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices.
Somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor’s kitchen window.
Somebody said you don’t need an education to be a mother.
Somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math.
Somebody said you can’t love the fifth child as much as you love the first.
Somebody doesn’t have more than one child.
Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books.
Somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose.
Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery.
Somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten.
Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back.
Somebody never organized seven giggling Girl Scouts to sell cookies.
Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married.
Somebody doesn’t know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother’s heartstrings.
Somebody said a mother’s job is done when her last child leaves home. Somebody never had grandchildren.
Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don’t need to tell her.
Somebody isn’t a mother.
B. Loving your Mother may not be easy
1. Bad Relationship
2. Lost your mother
Ruth obviously had a Moabite Mother but choose to adopt Naomi as her mother of faith. If you don’t have a good relationship with your mother or have no mother at all find a godly mother whose children may have abandoned them and love them.
Jesus made provision for his mother when from the cross He said to John, “Behold your mother” and to Mary He said, “Behold your son.”
Naomi called Ruth Daughter
Ruth 2:2
So Ruth the Moabitess said to Naomi, "Please let me go to the field, and glean heads of grain after him in whose sight I may find favor." And she said to her, "Go, my daughter."
2. Receive humbly your responsibility to offer her the opportunity to be happy with you and her.
Making Mother Happy
Little children can come up with some very interesting ideas. Listen to what some children wrote to their mothers for Mother’s Day.
Angie, 8 years old, wrote: "Dear Mother, I’m going to make dinner for you on Mother’s Day. It’s going to be a surprise. P.S. I hope you like pizza & popcorn."
Robert wrote: "I got you a turtle for Mother’s Day. I hope you like the turtle better than the snake I got you last year."
Eileen wrote: "Dear Mother, I wish Mother’s Day wasn’t always on Sunday. It would be better if it were on Monday so we wouldn’t have to go to school."
Little Diane wrote: "I hope you like the flowers I got you for Mother’s Day. I picked them myself when Mr. Smith wasn’t looking."
And how about this one from Carol? "Dear Mother, Here are two aspirins. Have a happy Mother’s Day!"
A. Ruth was committed to Naomi and demonstrated it.
Ruth 1:14
Then they lifted up their voices and wept again; and Orpah kissed her mother-in-law, but Ruth clung to her.
B. Ruth did not embarrass Naomi by her lifestyle
Ruth 3:11
And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.
C. Ruth worked Hard
Ruth 2:7
And she said, ’Please let me glean and gather after the reapers among the sheaves.’ So she came and has continued from morning until now, though she rested a little in the house."
Ruth 2:17
So she gleaned in the field until evening, and beat out what she had gleaned, and it was about an ephah of barley.
D. Ruth took the advice given by Naomi, 3:5
Ruth 3:5
And she said to her, "All that you say to me I will do."
E. Ruth cared for Naomi’s needs, 2:11
Ruth 2:11
And Boaz answered and said to her, "It has been fully reported to me, all that you have done for your mother-in-law since the death of your husband, and how you have left your father and your mother and the land of your birth, and have come to a people whom you did not know before.
We must never forget someone took care of us in our formative years.
A MOTHER - WHOSE LIFE WAS NOT WASTED
Ian McClaren tells about visiting an old Scotch lady who was standing in her kitchen weeping. She wiped her eyes with the corner of her apron, and when the minister asked her what was the matter, she confessed; "I am so miserable and unhappy."
"Why?"
"Because I have done so little for Jesus. When I was just a wee girl, the Lord spoke to my heart and I did so very much want to live for Him."
"Well, haven’t you?" asked the minister.
"Yes, I have lived for Him, but I have done so little."
"What have you done?"
"I have washed dishes, cooked three meals a day, taken care of the children, mopped the floor, and mended clothes. That is all I have done all my life, and I wanted to do something for Jesus."
The preacher, sitting back in the armchair, looked at her and smiled.
"Where are your boys?" he inquired.
"Oh, my boys! You know where Mark is. You ordained him yourself before he went to China. There he is preaching for the Lord. Why are you asking?"
"Where is Luke?", questioned the minister.
"Luke? He went from your own church; didn’t you send him out? I had a letter from him the other day."
And then she became so happy and excited as she continued.
"A Revival has broken out on the mission station, and he said they were having a wonderful time in the service of the Lord."
"Where is Matthew?"
"He is with his brother in China. And isn’t it fine that the two boys can be working together? I am so happy about that. And John came to see me the other night - he is my baby, only nineteen, but he is a great boy - and said: "Mother, I have been praying, and tonight, in my room, the Lord spoke to my heart, and what do you suppose the Lord told me? I have to go to my brother in Africa. But don’t cry, Mother, the Lord told me I was to stay here and look after you until you go home to glory!"
The minister answered: "And you say your life has been wasted in mopping floors, mending clothes, washing dishes, and doing trivial tasks. I’d like to have your mansion when you’re called home!"
3. Regard the Results of Loving your mother as blessings from the Lord.
A. Ruth received Favor from Boaz,
Ruth 2:10
So she fell on her face, bowed down to the ground, and said to him, "Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?"
B. Ruth was respected by all those who knew her,
Ruth 3:11
And now, my daughter, do not fear. I will do for you all that you request, for all the people of my town know that you are a virtuous woman.
C. Ruth was protected from harm
Ruth 2:22
And Naomi said to Ruth her daughter-in-law, "It is good, my daughter, that you go out with his young women, and that people do not meet you in any other field."
D. Ruth found the Kingsman Redeemer
Ruth 3:1-2
One day Naomi her mother-in-law said to her, "My daughter, should I not try to find a home for you, where you will be well provided for? [2] Is not Boaz, with whose servant girls you have been, a kinsman of ours? Tonight he will be winnowing barley on the threshing floor.
Ruth 4:10 (KJV)
Moreover Ruth the Moabitess, the wife of Mahlon (Sick), have I purchased to be my wife, to raise up the name of the dead upon his inheritance, that the name of the dead be not cut off from among his brethren, and from the gate of his place: ye are witnesses this day.
E. Ruth became a Mother and made Naomi a grandmother, 4:13-17
