You Always Were Mom’s Favorite
2 Tim. 1:3-5
3I thank God, whom I serve, as my forefathers did, with a clear conscience, as night and day I constantly remember you in my prayers. 4Recalling your tears, I long to see you, so that I may be filled with joy. 5I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also.
I was the oldest of 4 children. Anytime mom would do something special for one of the other kids we’d all look at that one and say, “You always were mom’s favorite. She always loved you best.”
I don’t know if you can relate to that or not?
Did you ever feel like one of your siblings was always mom’s favorite? I took that as my text today, because I really believe that we all are mom’s favorite.
I read to you the passage from 2 Timothy because it speaks of the Godly influence that his grandmother Lois and his mother Eunice had on him.
I love to preach Mother’s Day messages. There’s just something special about bragging on mom that makes us all feel good.
This morning I’ll be rambling about many different things regarding our moms and their influence on our life. The first thing I want to make you aware of is that Motherhood is a ministry.
Mom’s you probably didn’t realize that when you gave birth to that child, but when you brought that baby into the world, you were ordained to minister to that child in a way only a mom could do. Now I imagine that it wasn’t a very pleasant ordination, but it’s really been a blessing since then. Moms, you are a minister in many respects. You are called to serve and minister to the needs of your children. Motherhood is truly a ministry. It’s work! And all the moms said? Amen!
It’s work! Moms are the hardest working, most underpaid professionals I know of. As I work with clients on their finances, I review often times with husbands about how much they would pay someone else to do the work their wife does around the house. It works out to around $36-40,000/yr.
That’s how much you would have to pay someone to do the laundry, cooking, cleaning, nanny work, chauffeuring and everything else that a mom does everyday. Now ladies, I don’t want you to go home and fill out a time card and submit it to your husbands for payment. Trust me, we know we are blessed that you are there with all your talents and energy. Once a year we give you flowers and take you out to eat so you don’t have to cook. At least I hope you’re planning on doing something like that men. Motherhood is work.
Motherhood also takes sacrifice. Moms are givers. Guys, we cannot appreciate the sacrifice that moms give. It is tremendous. Children aren’t plug and play, like some hardware or software item that you install on your computer. You don’t just give them birth and they turn out OK. It takes nurturing. Somebody has to help them along the way. Moms are what God gave us to do that. When a mother lets go of her love for the sake of their child, (and guys, we can’t appreciate that by the way), … moms, you know exactly what I’m talking about, the way a mom lets go of her love for her child. When a mom does that she is reminded of the depth, height and breadth of God’s love for her when He let go of His love for us by sacrificially giving His Son for our redemption. It’s a beautiful picture. Guys, moms give what we can never give – that sacrificial motherly love that only they possess for that child. Men, that’s not to say we don’t love our children – it is that there is a special way that love is given and received from a mother to a child.
The Bible is filled with many examples of motherly devotion and maternal attributes of Godly mothers and I want to share a few of them with you this morning. Some of you may recall the story of Hagar. She was the handmaid of Sarah and she was sent in to Abraham so that he might have an heir before he died. Hagar conceived and gave birth to a son, named Ishmael. Later God fulfilled His promise and Sarah conceived and brought forth a son named Isaac. She became so jealous of Hagar and Ishmael, that she wanted them to go away. So, Abraham took them to the edge of their camp, gave them some water and sent them out into the desert. It wasn’t long before the water was gone and they were overcome with thirst. In Genesis 21 it speaks of Hagar taking the boy and putting him under the shade of some bushes and leaving him there. It then says she walked about a bowshot away, because she could not bear to hear her son crying and did not want to see him die. There she fell down herself so overcome with emotion that she began to weep.
Moms, have you ever been so concerned for your child that you couldn’t even utter a prayer to God? All you could do was cry? Your heart was so broken and overcome by the devotion you had for that child that all you could do was cry for them?
Well, God heard those cries from Hagar and He provided water for them to quench their thirst. Ishmael was the seed and beginning of many nations.
Then there’s the story of Jochebed. Pharaoh had decreed that any Hebrew boy that was born was to be killed. He gave instructions to the midwives that if they helped a Hebrew woman give birth and a boy was born; they were to kill it immediately. The midwives were Hebrews also, and they defied Pharaoh. When Pharaoh asked why the boys were not being killed they told him that the Hebrew women gave birth too fast and the child was born before they got there so it was too late to kill them. So, Pharaoh changed the law, and ordered that all new born boys when they were found were to be killed. Jochebed defied Pharaoh and hid her son, Moses, for three months. We all know the story. In Sunday school we sing about Moses in the bulrushes. We know how she took Moses and placed him in a basket, put tar around the basket, and made like a little baby canoe, and put him in the river just above where Pharaoh’s daughter was bathing. Pharaoh’s daughter took Moses in. Moses’ sister was standing nearby and quickly made arrangement with Pharaoh’s daughter to have a Hebrew woman, wean the baby – and so Moses went back to Jochebed to be weaned and she was even paid to do so. After he was weaned, Jochebed gave Moses up again to Pharaoh’s daughter and she raised him in the courts of Pharaoh as her own son. That experience prepared Moses to be the leader God would need to lead the Israelites out of bondage in Egypt.
Then there is one of my favorite stories. It is the story of a mother so devoted that she was willing to let another woman raise her son, rather than let Solomon split him in two.
If you’re not familiar with the story, there were two women that each had baby sons. One of the women had fallen asleep and accidentally rolled on top of her son and smothered it to death. When she awoke and discovered the death of her son she traded it with the other woman while she slept. When the other woman woke up and realized what had happened, they began to argue about who the live boy belonged to. They took their argument to Solomon. In all of his wisdom, after hearing the argument, Solomon pronounced a solution to the problem. “We’ll just split him down the middle and each of you can have half. Solomon knew that the real mother, because she was so devoted to her son, would grant that the other could have him. It’s a beautiful picture of motherly love and devotion. I would imagine that there isn’t a mother in this room this morning that wouldn’t make the same sacrifice for their child? It’s a devotion that only mothers possess.
Probably one of the first Bible stories I ever read as a young boy, was the story of Hannah and how she prayed to God for a son. She was so earnest in her prayers that she made a vow to God that if He would give her a son, she’d give him back to God. God answered her prayer. She gave birth to Samuel and indeed, she did give him back and dedicate him to God. Samuel became one of the greatest prophets in the Bible. What a beautiful picture there for all of us parents to dedicate our children back to the Lord who gave us the blessing of that little life in the first place. We are to raise them in the fear and admonition of the Lord.
Those are some biblical examples of motherly devotion and maternal attributes of a mom. Can I share with you some personal reflections of motherhood?
The first thing I want to talk about is mom’s favorite things.
Mom has some favorite things. It took me a lot of years to figure this out. As I was growing up as a young strapping boy that could eat my family out of house and home, I didn’t understand why the back of the chicken was my mom’s favorite part. I didn’t get that for awhile.
Around my house, it’s the pizza crust that’s mom’s favorite. Of course as the my boys got older, she didn’t get that part either because they ate it too. The boys never could understand why mom was so excited about the pizza crust.
Another one of mom’s favorite things, (and guys we are so lucky that mom’s love to do this), that’s 2 a.m. feedings. Mom’s love that! They live for 2 a.m. feedings. You know, sleep is highly overrated.
Another thing mom loves is laundry and cleaning. They love it! Nothing makes a woman happier than a clean home. Some women obsess about it. At our house – its laundry everyday! We have two dryers just to keep up. My wife loves it – she’ll even beg for it – “I need your laundry! NOW!”
Moms love to stay up late and wait for their teenager to come home. They love that. They sit around watching the seconds tick off the clock in great anticipation of their grand entrance through the door. And then when they finally arrive, they get the warm greeting of, “WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!” “DO YOU KNOW WHAT TIME IT IS?” Don’t you love the cadence of how moms talk when their animated? Then they get the head thing going on.
Here are some other motherly attributes that you probably don’t think about.
Moms are magicians. They have the wonderful magical ability to take the extremely unpleasant and make it pleasant. How many of you can relate to a time when you had to take some yucky medicine and mom mixed it with your pudding or applesauce? Sometimes it was sugar or kool-aid or milkshake. She would do anything that would get you to take it. Mom made the medicine go down a little easier.
How about the magical ability mom has of being able to tell you about all your wonderful traits after your first boyfriend broke up with you, girls? Isn’t mom wonderful to take something unpleasant and make it pleasant? “He didn’t deserve you anyway!” “You were too good for him.” Mom made you feel so good, didn’t she? Moms a magician.
How about giving you great desserts whenever you’re feeling sick or feeling bad?
“I made cookies.”
“Here’s a cake, I made just for you.”
You gotta love comfort food.
Some of you who grew up on a meager existence will relate to this. How mom takes a very unpleasant situation and makes it pleasant.
“Hey kids, guess what – we’re having pancakes for dinner!” And then she made them look like Mickey Mouse. You didn’t realize that flour was the only thing in the cupboard that night. It was fun. We didn’t know any better. That was a fun dinner.
Moms are magical in the way they take the unpleasant and make it pleasant.
Then there’s mom the superhero. Moms have super hearing. They are able to hear their own child’s cries amidst an army of school children. “I think I hear my child?”
One of our sons could fall out of a tree three blocks away, break his arm and my wife would say, “Did you hear that?” Guys, what do we say? “Hear what?”
Moms also have super vision. They are able to see through walls and know that their children are up to something. And, they really do have eyes in the back of their head! They can be standing at the sink washing dishes – “Cut that out! I saw that.” I don’t know how they do that.
Mom spit. The universal, all powerful cleansing agent that can clean any kind of dirt, grime, food or other snotty debris from a child’s chubby cheeks in a second. – “Come here, come here…”
It makes your hair lay down. It gets grass stains out of pants. It’s better than Oxyclean.
Moms have elastic arms. Guys, do you remember Stretch Armstrong? Remember Plastic Man? Moms have elastic arms. My mother, five foot nothing – I think she had 20 foot arms. She had to have. I could be clear across the room and say or do something stupid (smack in the back of the head) – “Where’d that come from?” How’d she do that? Super human!
Moms have super human strength. They demonstrate that every time they stand on their feet all day long cooking and cleaning and tending to their families needs.
And then there were those times when mom had to introduce us to the board of education. I never understood how that five foot tall, my mom could lift me three feet off the ground with a piece of pine board.
Moms have the balance of a tight rope walker. They’re able to carry two bags of groceries, a purse, a diaper bag and a baby while opening the front door at the same time. I don’t understand how they do that.
Moms have a built in dirt detector. If there’s a speck of dirt or dust that is tracked into the house they immediately know it and yell across the house, “Wipe your feet and clean up that mess!” They know it. They don’t even have to be in the room. The dirt detector goes off like an alarm.
And moms have a healing touch. It’s unbelievable to me how a mom can relieve pain or fever or in my case growing up – I remember having what they called “growing pains.” Moms just have a way of massaging the hurt away. Only moms have that power.
Moms have a heart that is twice the size of mere mortals. They’re able to love all of their children totally and equally at the same time. They are able to embrace a wayward child and forgive them with the grace that is almost equal with God. Moms are so loving.
A Godly mother is a wonderful thing. She’s a role model for all of society, not just for children. She’s able to keep the peace, balance the budget, enforce the law, create happiness and promote equality. I think mom should run for president.
She’s a prayer warrior, quickly and often lifting the needs of her children to an almighty God. Many of us are Christians today because of a praying mother. You could look back at the Godly influence your mother had and directly relate that to why you are a Christian today.
Maybe you’re like me today – your mom is not with you. She’s gone on. Then I hope today helped you reflect on not only what a blessing your mom was to you, but still is today. You cannot ever escape your moms influence. Just when you’re trying to make a tough decision, or when you’re going through a rough time – you hear mom’s voice in the back of your head giving you advice.
A mom’s influence is a wonderful thing. If your mom is still living then I want you today to make her feel special. Tell her how much she means to you and that you love her.
And, maybe something I said today made you laugh because it struck a chord – and you said, “yeah, that’s what happened at my house.”
Today go search out your mother - either on the phone or at her house or your house or at dinner, and I want the two of you to share one of those funny moments. Share one of those funny stories and laugh till you cry. Moms love it when their kids are happy. One of the greatest blessings you can give mom today is to be happy.
And remember, no matter how many siblings you may have; mom always loved you best.
