Marvelous Moms
Text: Prov. 15:20; 23:22b
Intro: Moms really are marvelous people. They fulfill all sorts of functions in the home. They are maid and manager, chef and counselor, physician and parent, all rolled into one. Yet most do all those things willingly and lovingly for their family, all without pay.
Not that I speak from experience or anything, but mothering is not an easy task. Who else but a mother can patiently put up with the wining and crying of a sick or irritable child; clean up all the messes made by their husband and children; fix the family’s meals, which are sometimes criticized; wash the endless piles of dirty clothes; and still maintain their sanity? I believe it takes a special person to do all that, while receiving little thanks or praise. But such is the gift of God we call, “Mom.”
As we observe Mother’s Day today, I find myself very thankful and fortunate to have been given the mother I enjoyed for 59 years. Her comfort, compassion, counsel and care were of tremendous help to me. Now that she is gone, I greatly regret the times that I so foolishly caused her worry and emotional pain, due to my thoughtless insensitivity to her sacrifices and love for me.
Let’s take a few moments today to think about why we need to be thankful for our “Marvelous Moms.”
Theme: We should thank God today for a godly…
I. MOTHER’S TRAVAIL
A. Childbearing Involves Pain.
Gen. 3:16a “Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children…”
Ps. 48:6 “Fear took hold upon them there, and pain, as of a woman in travail.”
NOTE: [1] The word translated “sorrow,” in Genesis 3:16 means, “(painful) toil.”1
[2] I’d never actually seen a woman in labor until I was ordered to escort a pregnant Vietnamese woman outside the base at Cam Rahn Bay, Vietnam. I helped lay her down on the floor, between the two rows of seats, on a little three-wheeled motorized vehicle the Vietnamese used for a shuttle. As soon as the lady was in, the scooter-like vehicle bounced off down the road to the village. I think that experience scared me worse than having rockets fired at me.
[3] The worst labor pain I have witnessed to date was that of a Nigerian friend and neighbor in Raytown, Missouri. Bisi Aromona was about to give birth to her first child, a boy, whom she later named, Tokie. I was the only pastor that Bisi claimed, so Shirley and I were allowed to go into the labor room to comfort her, and pray with her. However, when we arrived at her bedside, comforting her was out of the question. Bisi was in so much pain that she never opened her eyes, and barely even acknowledged our presence; and such horrifying groans I’d never heard in my life. The whole scene seemed surreal.
B. Childbearing Involves Peril.
Gen. 35:16b “…and Rachel travailed, and she had hard labor.
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18 And it came to pass, as her soul was in departing, (for she died) that she called his name Benoni (“son of my sorrow”): but his father called him Benjamin (“son of my right hand”).”
1 Sam. 4:19 “And his daughter in law, Phinehas’ wife, was with child, near to be delivered: and when she heard the tidings that the ark of God was taken, and that her father in law and her husband were dead, she bowed herself and travailed; for her pains came upon her.
20 And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast borne a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it.”
NOTE: Fatal childbirth is rare in America these days, but it is still the closest a woman comes to dying without actually experiencing death. According to the Center for Disease Control, “…the U.S. maternal mortality rate was 13 deaths per 100,000 live births in 2004.”2
C. Childbearing Results In Motherly Pride.
John 16:21 “A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but as soon as she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for joy that a man is born into the world.”
NOTE: It’s truly amazing that a woman will endure such pain and agony in childbirth, and yet count it all worthwhile to bring that little life into the world. But my how motherhood has suffered since the legalization of abortion in 1973. According to The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform, there were 1.37 million abortions a year (1996), which computes to approximately 3,700 abortions per day in the United States.3
II. MOTHER’S TEACHING
A. Children Learn From Their Mother’s Example.
Prov. 31:28a “Her children arise up, and call her blessed…
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30 Favor is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the Lord, she shall be praised.”
2 Tim. 1:5 “When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.”
NOTE: I’ll never forget the godly example my mother lived before her children. My mother had a holy hunger for God, and we all knew it, because it showed in her daily life. It wasn’t uncommon for me to wake up in the morning and hear my mother praying in the den, or to find her Bible opened to where she’d been reading that morning. Numbers of times, when I lived at home, I walked by the counter where my mother’s open Bible lay, and saw my name written beside a verse of scripture. My mom wasn’t perfect by any means, but we kids knew that momma loved Jesus. That impression was permanently stamped upon my mind and spirit.
B. Children Learn From Their Mother’s Exhortations.
Prov. 1:8a “…forsake not the law of thy mother;”
Prov. 22:6a “Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.”
NOTE: [1] Mothers and fathers must do more than merely spout orders and instructions to their children; they must be aware of that child’s nature, and fit their instructions accordingly. Barnes notes:
The way he should go - Or, according to the tenor of his way, i. e., the path especially belonging to, especially fitted for, the individual’s character. The proverb enjoins the closest possible study of each child’s temperament and the adaptation of “his way of life” to that.4
[2] Children are forever accusing their mothers of nagging at them. And perhaps at times they do. Or is it that children tend to look at their mother’s nagging from the wrong perspective?
I Love You Enough
“You don’t love me!” How many times have your kids laid that one on you? Someday when my children are old enough to understand the logic motivation [of] a mother, I’ll tell them:
ü I loved you enough to bug you about where you were going and what time you would get home.
ü I loved you enough to let you discover your friend was a creep.
ü I loved you enough to stand over you for two hours while you cleaned your bedroom, a job that would have taken me 15 minutes.
ü I loved you enough to ignore what every other mother did or said.
ü I loved you enough to let you stumble, fall, hurt and fail.
ü I loved you enough to accept you for what you are, not what I wanted you to be.
ü Most of all, I loved you enough to say no when you hated me for it.
Some mothers don’t know when their job is finished. They figure the longer the kids hang around, the better parents they are.
I see children as kites. You spend a lifetime trying to get them off the ground. You run with them until you’re both breathless...they crash...you add a longer tail. You patch and comfort, adjust and teach-and assure them that someday they will fly.
Finally they are airborne, but they need more string, and you keep letting it out. With each twist of the ball of twine, the kite becomes more distant. You know it won’t be long before that beautiful creature will snap the lifeline that bound you together and soar-free and alone. Only then do you know you did your job.5
III. MOTHER’S TENDERNESS
1 Kings 3:25 “And the king said, Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other.
26a Then spake the woman whose the living child was unto the king, for her bowels yearned upon her son, and she said, O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it…”
NOTE: There’s nothing quite as wonderful as the tenderness of a mother, as this poem points out:
A Salute To Mother!
God made a wonderful mother,
A mother who never grows old;
He made her smile of the sunshine,
And He molded her heart of pure gold;
In her eyes He placed bright shining stars,
In her cheeks, fair roses you see;
God made a wonderful mother,
And He gave that dear mother to me.6
IV. MOTHER’S TESTIMONY
A. Mother, Be A Woman Of The Word.
Ps. 119:105 “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”
Col. 3:16a “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom…”
B. Mother, Be A Woman Of Good Works.
Titus 3:8a “This is a faithful saying, and these things I will that thou affirm constantly, that they which have believed in God might be careful to maintain good works…”
C. Mother, Be A Woman Of Consistent Worship.
Ps. 99:5 “Exalt ye the Lord our God, and worship at his footstool; for he is holy.”
James 4:8a “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw nigh to you…”
Heb. 10:25 “Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.”
Theme: We should thank God today for a godly…
I. MOTHER’S TRAVAIL
II. MOTHER’S TEACHING
III. MOTHER’S TENDERNESS
IV. MOTHER’S TESTIMONY
End Notes:
1. James Strong, S.T.D., LL.D., Strong’s Exhaustive Concordance Of The Bible, published by MacDonald Publishing Company, McLean, Virginia; #6089 of the Hebrew Chaldee Dictionary, pg. 90.
2. http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/80743.php.
3. The Center For Bio-Ethical Reform, website: http://www.abortionno.org/Resources/fastfacts.html.
4. Albert Barnes, Albert Barnes Notes On The Bible, as found in e-Sword software.
5. Erma Bombeck, from “Forever, Erma,” quoted in Reader’s Digest, March 1997, p. 148.
6. Author unknown, Pulpit Helps, May 1992.
