INTRO.-
God took the fragrance of a flower...
The majesty of a tree...
The gentleness of morning dew...
The calm of a quiet sea...
The beauty of the twilight hour...
The soul of a starry night...
The laughter of a rippling brook...
The grace of a bird in flight...
Then God fashioned from these things
A creation like no other,
And when his masterpiece was through
He called it simply - Mother.
- Herbert Farnham
“Mother, may I” was a children’s game from long ago. There may be various forms of this game but here is one I read.
Kids request to take a certain number and type of steps (baby, normal, giant, etc.) towards the “mother”. Kids must remember to as “Mother May I?” The first to touch the whoever plays mother wins and becomes the new mother. If nothing else, the game helped to teach kids good manners. MOTHER, MAY I?
And good manners are needed today. When we were small we were taught to say such things: “May I,” “Please,” “Thank you” and “You’re welcome.” Today, we often wonder, “Where have all the manners gone?”
And if we adults don’t show proper manners how can we expect our children and grandchildren to show them?
Did you ever play the game? I did but it’s been a very long time ago. Here’s a better thing to do, although it’s not a game. I call it: Mother, may I be like you?
PROP.- Based on what our mothers did for us, I feel we need to ask of mother, may I...
1- Mother, may I have a faith like yours
2- Mother, may I have a heart like yours
3- Mother, may I have hands like yours
I. MOTHER, MAY I HAVE A FAITH LIKE YOURS
II Timothy 1:5 “I 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.”
Proverbs 30:31“Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised.” A woman/wife/mother who fears the Lord also respects the Lord and walks by faith.
John 2:4-5 “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” Do you remember this text? It was when Jesus attended a wedding in Cana of Galiliee and turned the water into win.
ILL.- Don DeWelt was one of my college professors at Ozark Christian College. Don preached a sermon entitled, “The only commandment the virgin Mary ever gave.” What was that commandment? DO WHATEVER HE TELLS YOU.
God bless all mothers who have said to her children, “Do whatever Jesus said” or “Do what the Bible teaches.” And what made this command better was when Mother set a good example in following the words of Jesus.
ILL.- A little boy forgot his lines in a Sunday school presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help. Her son’s memory was blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, "I am the light of the world." The child beamed and with great feeling and a loud clear voice said, "My mother is the light of the world!"
Many mothers have been a light in this world in the sense of living by faith in the Lord. There is no better example that a mother could give to her children than living by faith in the Lord.
ILL.- One young preacher who just lost his mother in death, wrote: “I can remember that nearly every night mother had a family time. She would read a Bible story, and get us all on our knees afterward and pray for each of us by name. She also loved to read and mark up her Bible.”
ILL.- Alexander Campbell of the early 1800’s, said of his mother, “Having a particularly ready and retentive memory, she treasured up the Scriptures early in life, and could quote and apply them with great fluency and pertinency from childhood to old age.”
ILL.- When Preacher John Wesley was a student at Oxford University he was shocked by the amount of drinking done by the students. After writing to his mother, Susanna Wesley, for her counsel, he received the following words: "My dear son: remember that anything which increases the authority of the body over the mind is an evil thing."
Mother, may I have a faith like yours!
II. MOTHER, MAY I HAVE A HEART LIKE YOURS
Luke 2:15-19 15 When the angels had left them and gone into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, “Let’s go to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has told us about.” 16 So they hurried off and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby, who was lying in the manger. 17 When they had seen him, they spread the word concerning what had been told them about this child, 18 and all who heard it were amazed at what the shepherds said to them. 19 But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.
Mothers who love their children deeply ponder much in their hearts. They ponder the life their child will have and try to direct that child in the way of the Lord with loving guidance.
ILL.- A mother repeatedly told her little boy to sit down. The boy continued to stand, disobeying his mother. Finally, the mother went to him, and plopped him down in a chair. Fuming, the boy said, “I may be sitting down on the OUTSIDE, but I am standing on the INSIDE!”
How would a mother put up with a child like that? Probably with loving patience or with some loving discipline!
ILL.- Steve Brundage wrote: Aunt Karen is the mother of two high-spirited young girls. When I called her one morning, our conversation was constantly interrupted by the din of kids screaming and chasing each other. "Could you hold on for a moment?" my aunt finally asked, putting down the phone. Within ten seconds all I could hear was absolute silence. Then, "Okay, I’m back."
"But it’s so quiet!" I exclaimed. "You must have complete control over those two." "Not really," my aunt confessed wearily. "I’m in the closet." A mother’s heart can take only so much!
ILL.- An epitaph on his wife’s tombstone written by her husband after 60 years of marriage, read, "SHE ALWAYS MADE HOME HAPPY." That’s a sign that someone was dishing out some love.
ILL.- Jean Baron wrote in Readers Digest about the old mobile home where she lived with her teenage son. She said, “The home was structurally unsound, and the plumbing always leaked.” She was ashamed when her son brought friends home because of their meager surroundings.
But one day she learned that her son’s best friend, who had all the material things anyone could want, had run away from home. She said, “I was puzzled, so I asked my son why.”
He explained, “Well, mom, at their house they had a lot of environment but not very much love. Here, we have lots of love, but not very much environment.”
Mother, may I please have a heart like yours. A heart of love, patience, compassion, tenderness, etc.
III. MOTHER, MAY I HAVE HANDS LIKE YOURS
Proverbs 31:10-17 10 A wife of noble character who can find? She is worth far more than rubies.
11 Her husband has full confidence in her
and lacks nothing of value.
12 She brings him good, not harm,
all the days of her life.
13 She selects wool and flax
and works with eager hands.
14 She is like the merchant ships,
bringing her food from afar.
15 She gets up while it is still dark;
she provides food for her family
and portions for her servant girls.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
out of her earnings she plants a vineyard.
17 She sets about her work vigorously;
her arms are strong for her tasks.
I Thess. 2:6-7 “We were not looking for praise from men, not from you or anyone else. As apostles of Christ we could have been a burden to you, but we were gentle among you, like a mother caring for her little children.”
ILL.- The Sunday School Teacher asks, "Now, Johnny, tell me frankly do you say prayers before eating?" "No sir," Little Johnny replies, "I don’t have to, my mom is a good cook!"
Mothers have hands that cook and often, cook very well. I remember mom’s good home cooking!
ILL.- As the family gathered for a big dinner together, the youngest son announced that he had just signed up at an army recruiter’s office. There were audible gasps around the table, then some laughter, as his older brothers shared their disbelief that he could handle this new situation. "Oh, come on, quit joking," snickered one. "You didn’t really do that, did you?"
"You would never get through basic training," scoffed another.
The new recruit looked to his mother for help, but she was just gazing at him. When she finally spoke, she simply asked, "Do you really plan to make your own bed every morning?" That’s a good question for some children, because mama has always made their beds for them.
ILL.- Dr. James Dobson told about in regard to his wife. He told about a time he came home when his son, Ryan, was a small baby. It had been a terrible day for his wife. Ryan had been sick and had cried all day long.
Once, as she was changing his diapers, the telephone rang and Shirley reached over to answer it before fastening up his diapers. Just then Ryan had an attack of diarrhea. She cleaned up that mess and put him in clean, sweet-smelling clothes.
Then she took him into the living room and fed him. As she was burping him he threw up all over himself, and her, and the couch, too.
Dobson writes, "When I came home I could smell the aroma of motherhood everywhere." Shirley cried out to him, "Was all of this in my contract?" I’m sure many mothers have felt the same way.
Mother, may I have loving, hard working hands like yours!
CONCLUSION---------------
- "All that I am or ever hope to be, I owe to my angel Mother." -- Abraham Lincoln
- "My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I received from her." -- George Washington
- "There never was a woman like her. She was gentle as a dove and brave as a lioness. The memory of my mother and her teachings were, after all, the only capital I had to start life with, and on that capital I have made my way." -- Andrew Jackson
Mother, may I be like you!
Steve Shepherd, Jonesboro Christian Church
jonesborochristianchurch@suddenlink.net
