Mothers Day 2011
Proverbs 31:10-31
Introduction-
This morning we want to honor our Mothers on their day, and just like the skit Josh and I did, we need to remember our mothers.
I think we can also take the time to recognize and remember all the women who have made an impact in our lives.
I know that Mothers day for some is a tough time as you remember the impact she has made and she is no longer here with you.
I am sensitive to those who have felt the pain of divorce or death and you have had to become both mother and father, and at times you have felt overwhelmed by the task.
Maybe you have wanted to be a mom and it has not happened. Not all of this message will fit everyone, but certainly, we can all grab some of the truths and apply them to our lives.
Proverbs 31:10-31
Prayer
The ideal women was described 2500 years ago and she is still intimidating most women since.
Some people would say that the perfect women would obey every word , wait on you hand and foot, worship the ground you walk on…..women today would call that a male chauvinist.
Illustration-
A six year old boy, separated from his mother in a supermarket, began calling frantically for Martha, Martha, that was his mother’s name and she came running to him quickly, “but honey, she said, you shouldn’t call me Martha, I’m mother to you”! Yes. I know, he said, but this store is full of mothers!
Mothers come in all shapes and sizes.
They come with many different and unique circumstances.
They all have to wear different hats to keep their families running smoothly or the very best they can.
They have all said at some point, Let’s try weird, because normal is not working!
Some have fathers that help.
Some have no fathers available.
Some have men in the house but they are expected to play both roles.
I believe the word of God that says that a man should be the head of the house as Christ is the head of the church.
That doesn’t mean to dominate and control, it means to lead along side your wife, and the mother of your children.
Let’s see what we can learn from the proverb women…..
3 points to look at:
She works hard for the family
She taught her children faith
She loves from the heart
I. She works hard for the family (Write this down)
I won’t read that verse again but contained in these verses we see
Noble wife
Husband that trusts her
A women that Buys her food from the market
Business women that buys and sells
Works late into the night
Women that loves the Lord
I think that describes most every women in here this morning!
Ideally, that is a perfect women, nowhere in the passage does it say that everyday goes this ideal.
In a perfect world, everything is perfect.
Nothing goes wrong.
Everyone gets what they wish for.
Everything ends with “And they all lived happily ever after”
Leave it to Beaver family
Father knows best- where ever circumstance ends perfectly.
But we live in a realistic world!
We deal with problems everyday
Broken dreams happen
Some things never get fixed.
I think moms are picking up the spiritual phones and calling for help, and when we answer, all they can say is Help!!!!!!!!
You know you’re a mom on a good day
When no child has leaked fluids on you
You get to go to the bathroom completely by yourself.
Your so desperate for adult conversation, that you spill your guts to the telemarketer until he hangs up on you!
People today are so stressed for time
Have a lack of sleep
The next day does not look better because they don’t see the day being any different.
I see you mom wearing all those hats…living in crisis mode, and desiring for you to experience that Calgon moment. That Ah..Ha..moment!
Listen to me,
I see you working hard, more importantly God see’s you working hard to make things happen.
The turn table will keep turning until you slow it down or get off for a while.
Phil 4:7
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
That proverb women cannot do the things she accomplished without God’s help and realize she had to get off the fast track every once in a while to take care of herself and seek God
II. She teaches her children faith
She actively is involved in family and the needs of the children.
You do not have to apologize for being a mother or feel like you are second class citizens.
In 2006, they said that if a mother was paid for what she does at home, at the cost of work standards, that she would make 65,000 dollars a year. Adding overtime benefits in there, she would make $134,500 dollars a year.
Illustration
Tony Cappolo’s wife in her book, “The power delusion” wrote about getting sick of telling people that she was only a mom. When asked what she did about it, she said she began telling people that “she was socializing two homo- sapiens in the dominate values of the Judeo-Christian tradition in order that they might be instruments for the transformation of the social order, into the teleological prescribed utopia inherent in the echelon.”
What do you do….never affected her again!
Things my mother has taught me
That she really does have eyes in the back of her head.
That at any moment I was doing something wrong, I sensed her presence.
That counting didn’t work and she never made it to three before getting after my brother or I.
That timeout was for a basketball game, and not necessarily the way that she would raise her two boys.
That what she taught me has been useful to make me a better person.
To have God pleased with me is more important than any person.
Her love is unconditional, but would always be willing to lead me back on the correct path.
I believe her arms could reach around corners if she needed to correct me, but those same long arms embraced me with her love.
Satan hates mothers- because he realizes the impact they have on families. God loves mom’s and endows them with blessings and faith and strength that can only be given by God.
Mothers teach us maturity, religion, perseverance, logic, and can even teach us foresight- Wear clean underwear in case you were in an accident.
III. She loves from the heart
You cut open a mom’s heart and it would bleed love!
A mom’s love is sacrificial – (those times there was no enough and she would say that she is not hungry).
Mom is quietly faithful! Worth more than rubies. Day in and day out, taking care of the ones she loves. She becomes like the scene from the skit. She quietly kisses the Boo-Boos, wipes your running nose, cleans up your messes. Is a nurse, teacher, and cheerleader. Because of God’s love in her.
Unfortunately, many times though, Her children don’t rise up and call her blessed and she has to rely on God’s reward and strength.
V31- Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.
Brings me to the last thing- the last thing has nothing to do with the Mothers themselves.
It has to do with all the rest of us that are around them.
Here’s a part that everyone of us can take with us this mornig
Maybe you’re here and you have never been a mother, maybe your kids are all grown up and out of the house.
Maybe you dad, the Lord has spoken to you about the impact you can have on your wife as mother of your children.
Maybe you did not have that kind of mother. God promises to fill the voids in your life.
God rights wrong, and is able to heal broken hearts.
Closing
Men, if you have a wife that is quietly faithful, you need to praise her and express your appreciation.
Maybe you have to go to your mother if she is still alive and thank her for everything she has done.
Kids, maybe you need to rise up and call your mother blessed, and not take her for granted.
Maybe there is someone here today that could adopt someone to help fill a mother’s role.
Maybe there is some who could mentor the young mom and get along side of them- encourage them and help them hold up their arms when they are tired.
Maybe there are some that realize just how much mom has meant to them.
My mother is 800 miles away, but today I will call her, and I will call my mother-in law and express to them both how much I appreciate and love them for all their sacrifices.
Altar call
