Mother’s Day 2018
Mother’s today are the most courageous people I know of. They face a world that treats them and their contributions with contempt and indifference. We see the government removing the word “Mother” from official documents and replacing it with the words “Parent One”.
Well at least they got her number right. But sometimes that indifference can even come from their own children.
I heard about a little boy sitting on his front steps with his face cradled in his hands, looking so forlorn. His Dad came home just then & asked him what was wrong. The little boy looked up & said, "Well, just between us, Dad, I’m having trouble getting along with your wife today!"
Yes indifference towards Mothers can come right from their own children sometimes. But not so with Jesus.
Jesus while on the cross suffering as he was, weak as he was and alone as he was spent some of his last strength to speak to his friend John and said these words concerning Mary.
26 When Jesus saw his mother there, and the disciple whom he loved standing nearby, he said to his mother, "Dear woman, here is your son,"
27 and to the disciple, "Here is your mother." From that time on, this disciple took her into his home.
John 19:26-27
Knowing He was dying Jesus made sure that His mother would be cared for by someone He loved and trusted. Jesus is for us the model of a good son to His mother.
- The late psychoanalyst Erich Fromm said…
The Mother-child relationship is paradoxical and, in a sense, tragic. It requires the most intense love on the mother's side, yet this very love must help the child grow away from the mother and to become fully independent.
It is hard for Mothers to let go. If you have ever seen a Mother send her children off for the first day of school you can understand this dilemma.
Mothers are there for so many firsts in our lives. Our first steps, our first word, our first laugh and our first tears. Mothers share with God an interest in our firsts.
Jeremiah 1:5 T.N.I.V
"Before I formed you in the womb I knew you.
God knows us before he imparts us to our mothers. It is God who puts us with our mothers. Our lives are bound together by His design.
From our mothers we learn kindness, forgiveness, sharing, patience, and love. Mothers are more than teachers and children are more than pupils.
Preacher H. W. Beecher the brother of author Harriet Beecher Stowe said “The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom.”
Presbyterian Minister W. R. Wallace is quoted with…
“The hand that rocks the cradle. Is the hand that rules the world!”
Mothers shape our children who in turn shape our world. That's a lot of responsibility but God has seen fit to entrust it to women.
Letting go of your child to allow them to make their own way in the world is such a hard thing to do yet mothers have done it for millennia. Even Mary had to let go of Jesus as He began His ministry.
Washington Irving who gave us Rip Van Winkle and The Legend of Sleepy Hallow said… 1783-1859
“A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us; when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause peace to return to our hearts.”
A Mother’s work is never done and for that reason many wise mothers point us to Jesus the author and finisher of our faith so that we might become complete. In Jesus we see the lengths we are to provide for our mothers.
Today’s scripture passage lets us know that Mary has unique bragging rights as a Mother for her son ascended to Heaven.
Yes your son may be a doctor or a lawyer or a Prime Minister but Mary’s son is and shall ever be the Savior of the World and the Son of God.
With that we promise you mothers that the rest of us will try a little harder to be what you envisioned us to be.
Kind, caring, patient, loving, forgiving, compassionate human beings in the model of Jesus. We are brothers and sisters in Christ called to follow the will of our Heavenly Father just as Jesus demonstrated.
Being a Godly Mother in an Ungodly World isn’t an easy task. We need to pray for our mothers often.
In the book of Titus we have some advice for those who are Christian Mom’s in an unChristian world.
Titus 2:2-5
The essence of it is this…Mom’s please take the advice of older Christian women who have raised their children in the faith. You can learn much about Christian character as a wife and mother from them. We need older Christian women to step up and mentor younger Christian women about how to be a godly Mom.
Find a Christian woman with whom you can confide and connect with even if your children are no longer little.
Mothers carry a special burden for their children. We call it a maternal instinct as a child I called it a sixth sense. Mothers seem to know intuitively when their children are in trouble or making trouble or are dealing with a trial be it emotional, academic, or spiritual. Moms just seem to know what we are thinking. Scary isn’t it?
Proverbs 22:6 King James Version
6 Train up a child in the way he should go: and when he is old, he will not depart from it.
Mothers use that which will touch them in a way so as to correct their behavior and train them up. Take the cell phone away, restrict privileges like money, sports, and their social circle.
Mom your hand is still able to rock that cradle if necessary.
Teach your children to love Jesus and to have a personal relationship with Him. Then one day you will hear those beloved words
“8 Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day—and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.
2 Timothy 4:8
Amen.
