I was probably about thirteen or fourteen when I began work on my cooking merit badge. I was in Scouts, and one of the ways you advance is by earning merit badges. So, I set out to get my cooking merit badge.
Now, when I worked on my hiking merit badge or my camping skills—that sort of thing—it was my dad I turned to. He knew that stuff. But with this—well, Mom was a shoo-in. She would be my cooking coach. I don’t remember all I had to do, but I do recall two things. I had to learn to cut up a fryer, and I had to bake a loaf of bread from scratch. And that was before bread-making machines.
So, one Saturday, my mom and I went to the store and bought the stuff we’d need: a whole chicken, a bag of flour, milk, and I don’t know what all. Then we went home and started our project. First was the bread, and that went pretty well. We kneaded the dough and put it in the baking pan and then put it in the pre-heated oven.
While the bread was baking, my mom proceeded to instruct me in how to cut the chicken into pieces for frying. We washed the bird and then placed it on the cutting board. I guess I had imagined that this task would be easy. But, once I got started, I changed my mind. It seemed to me that we must have bought the world’s slipperiest chicken. It kept sliding off the board—several times making a lateral move to the cabinet, first to the right, then to the left. Once or twice it seemed to dive from the work surface to the floor, which meant washing it again, which only made it more difficult to handle.
I finally said, “Mom, why don’t you just do it. You know how.”
And you know what she said to me? She said, “Is that what you really want? Sure, I know how, but if I do it, I won’t learn anything I don’t already know and you certainly won’t. And, besides that, you’re the one trying to earn a merit badge, not me.”
How are you going to argue with that? So, with knife in hand and my jaw set, I turned back to the cutting board and went to work. And by day’s end, I had a somewhat properly cut-up chicken. Now, I’m not going to say I could have gotten a job as a cook—not by any means—but that night we had fried chicken and homemade bread. And thanks to my mom’s refusal to do my work for me, I eventually got that merit badge.
Today is Mother’s Day, and I know you’re like me: we want to celebrate our moms. And, really, that’s about all we want to do.
Wait a minute! We there is one other thing we want to do. We want to celebrate our moms and we want to acknowledge the godly influence they have had on us. We want to affirm how God has used our moms to lead us to Christ and to nurture us in him. When Paul wrote to Timothy, he did just that. He credited Timothy’s grandmother and his mother for their godly impact on this young man’s life. He wrote, “I am reminded of your sincere faith, a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well” (2 Tim. 1:5). What an impact our moms have on us!
When you think about it, moms do a lot of things. They take care of us physically. They take care of us emotionally. They take care of us mentally, And they take care of us spiritually. And none of these things is easy.
When we were kids, we did all sorts of foolish things. We took unnecessary risks. We refused to eat our vegetables. We fought going to the doctor. We threw tantrums and pouted when we didn’t get our way. Kids at school hurt our feelings. We lacked confidence.
Some of us were never ready for school on time. We couldn’t find our shoes, or we couldn’t find our homework. Some of us didn’t do our homework. We complained about our teachers. We forgot to mention to Mom that we needed this or that hard-to-find thing by Wednesday…until it was Wednesday. When it came to going to church, we had a lot of the same issues with that as we did with school. We didn’t want to go. And if Dad didn’t go, we threw that up to Mom. And if we had to go anyway, we flipped and flopped in the pew, asked incessantly, “When is it going to be over,” and made it virtually impossible for Mom to get anything out of the service.
How did our moms manage all this? How do moms do it?
Let’s just admit it: it’s hard being a mom. Sure, moms get a special day—once a year—but what about the rest of the year. If they wanted to, they could really feel underappreciated. And that’s because…they’re often underappreciated!
Recently, I came across a survey done by salary.com in which they interviewed stay-at-home moms. And the purpose of the survey was to show what moms would earn if they were getting paid for all they do. Moms wear a lot of hats—teacher, CEO, psychologist, cook, housekeeper, laundry operator, computer guru, and so on. I think nurse might have been left out. The firm that conducted the survey estimated that moms work just under ninety-seven hours a week and, if paid, would earn over a hundred thousand dollars.
There was also a survey for working moms, and they would command a pretty substantial salary as well. Not that they do what they do for money—good thing, huh? But think about it: it would be nice to tell them from time to time how grateful we are. But that’s not why they do what they do.
Why do they do it then? They do it because, when it comes to their kids, there’s a lot at stake. How many times did your mom stay up with you—all night, if need be—when you were sick? How many times did she make your favorite meal? Or surprise you with a special treat? Or listen as you poured your heart out? And dried your tears? And held you? Or stood up for you when no one else would? Or make you do what you should do even when you didn’t want to? Like go to the doctor or go to school or even go to church?
Here’s the thing. God placed your mom in your life to guide you to him. Being a mother is the highest calling of all, and leading one’s children to the Lord is the highest calling of the highest calling. That’s what Timothy’s mother did—and his grandmother before that. “I am reminded of your sincere faith,” Paul wrote to Timothy, “a faith that dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice and now, I am sure, dwells in you as well.” If you are a man or woman of faith, chances are your mother—or perhaps your grandmother—is a big part of the reason why.
How did they do it? Perhaps they made sure you stuck your nose in a Bible on occasion. Later in 2 Timothy, Paul says to Timothy, “But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have firmly believed, knowing from whom you learned it and how from childhood you have been acquainted with the sacred writings, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus” (2 Tim. 3:14f.). What’s Paul saying? He’s saying Timothy learned his Bible at his mother’s knee. And that may be where you got your start in God’s Word. And maybe it was your mom who first led you to put your faith in Jesus Christ. That’s certainly one way moms guide their children to the Lord.
Another way is through godly counsel. In our Old Testament reading, we heard Solomon say to us, “Listen to your father…, and do not despise your mother…. Buy truth and do not sell it; buy wisdom, instruction, and understanding.” Where from? From your parents! Right? The passage goes on: “Let your father and mother be glad; let her who bore you rejoice” (Prov. 23:22ff.). What is it that makes our mothers rejoice? What is it that causes them to be glad? If we make wise choices. Right? And there is no wiser choice than to turn to Christ and find God in him.
So, biblical grounding and godly counsel. Those are two ways our mothers lead us to Christ. And we could supplement these two essentials with prayer and prayer with a solid and exemplary life.
The long and the short of it is that God puts our moms in our lives so we will listen to them…so they can guide us to him. Wherever you are in your life—whether you’re young or old—you owe a great debt of gratitude to your mother…and to God for giving you the mother you have.
So, where does that put you? What is your response to God’s great gift of a great mom? Here’s my suggestion: it’s to make sure her investment in you pays off. Paul tells Timothy “to fan into flame the gift of God” (2 Tim. 1:6). In other words, a lot of love and hope and sacrifice has been poured into you. Let it fuel your life with a passion for God. Let it ignite in you an ardent commitment to Christ. It will make your mother glad—and to use the words of Proverbs, the woman “who bore you [will] rejoice.” What a fine Mother’s Day gift that would be!
