Mom, Thanks For All You Do
When God Created Mothers...
When the Lord was creating mothers, He was into His sixth day of "overtime" when an angel appeared and said. "You're taking a lot of time on this one."
And God said, "Have you read the specs on this order?" She has to be completely washable, but not plastic. Have 180 moveable parts...all replaceable. Run on black coffee and leftovers. Have a lap that disappears when she stands up. A kiss that can cure anything from a broken leg to a disappointed love affair. And six pairs of hands."
The angel shook his head slowly and said. "Six pairs of hands? No way."
"It's not the hands that are causing me problems," God remarked, "it's the three pairs of eyes that mothers have to have."
"That's on the standard model?" asked the angel. God nodded. "One pair that sees through closed doors when she asks, 'What are you kids doing in there?' when she already knows. Another here in the back of her head that sees what she shouldn't but what she has to know, and of course the ones here in front that can look at a child when he goofs up and say. 'I understand and I love you' without so much as uttering a word."
"God," said the angel touching his sleeve gently, "Get some rest tomorrow...."
"I can't," said God, "I'm so close to creating something so close to myself. Already I have one who heals herself when she is sick... can feed a family of six on one pound of hamburger meat... and can get a nine-year-old to stand under a shower."
The angel circled the prototype model of a mother very slowly. "It's way too soft," she sighed. "But tough!" said God excitedly. "You can imagine what this mother can do or endure." "Can it think?" "Not only can it think, but it can reason and compromise," said the Creator. Finally, the angel bent over and ran his finger across the cheek. "There's a leak," she pronounced. "I told You that You were trying to cram too much into this model." "It's not a leak," said the Lord, "It's a tear." "What's it for?"
"It's for joy, sadness, disappointment, pain, loneliness, and pride."
There is something so special about mothers. (from https://www.sermoncentral.com/sermons/mothers-day-steve-kinnard-sermon-on-mothers-day-208443)
Salary.com determined in 2019 using its Salary Wizard that the median annual salary of a mother is $178,201 – more than a $20,000 increase from the 2017 salary.
“We would like to recognize both professional and stay-at-home Moms on their unwavering dedication to their families and other responsibilities.”
From 2009-15, the salary was between $112,000 and $122,000. In 2016, it had a significant increase from $113,568 to $143,102.
The survey determined that the average number of hours stay-at-home moms actually work is more than 90 per week.
An analysis from Oxfam in 2020 figured out that unpaid work by women in the U.S. (such as house cleaner, cook, child care, driver, laundry service, etc.) would be worth $1.5 trillion in 2019, using minimum wage per hour for its calculations. (https://local12.com/news/offbeat/survey-stay-at-home-moms-should-earn-a-178000-salary)
Mom, thank you for all that you do! It may go unrecognized sometimes, and it shouldn't. So today we want to encourage you. What you have done as a mother, and what you are doing as a mother, matters. It flows from who you are, who God made you to be. It matters.
Mom, thank you for all that you do! You shape us into what we become. It has been said that the hand that rocks the cradle, rules the world.
William Ross Wallace (1819-1881)
THE HAND THAT ROCKS THE CRADLE IS THE HAND THAT RULES THE WORLD.
BLESSINGS on the hand of women! Angels guard its strength and grace. In the palace, cottage, hovel, Oh, no matter where the place; Would that never storms assailed it, Rainbows ever gently curled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.
Infancy's the tender fountain, Power may with beauty flow, Mothers first to guide the streamlets, From them souls unresting grow— Grow on for the good or evil, Sunshine streamed or evil hurled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.
Woman, how divine your mission, Here upon our natal sod; Keep—oh, keep the young heart open Always to the breath of God! All true trophies of the ages Are from mother-love impearled, For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.
Blessings on the hand of women! Fathers, sons, and daughters cry, And the sacred song is mingled With the worship in the sky— Mingles where no tempest darkens, Rainbows evermore are hurled; For the hand that rocks the cradle Is the hand that rules the world.
Abraham Lincoln said, "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother."
Oh, it's true mom, what you have done and what you are doing shapes the world in which we live. What you are doing matters. It is vital. It is important. Mom, thanks for all that you do!
We are shaped by our relationships. Our very first human relationship is with our mother. Mom, we wouldn't be here without you! James Brown said it well in the classic song. It may seem like this is a man's world, but it wouldn't be nothin' without a woman or a girl. It wouldn't be nothin' without a mom.
The apostle Paul agreed. In 1 Corinthians 11:12. The first woman came from a man, but every man since has come from a woman. Even when God came into the world through Christ, the door through which He chose to come, was a mother's womb.
The relationship between mother and child is one of the most beautiful portraits of the love of God in creation. Mom, thanks for all you do. Your love for us images God's Love.
Today we celebrate motherhood. Mom, thanks for all you do!
It's the little things that you do, mom, that add value to the world. The jewels that adorn creation are the things that make a great mother.
The opening chapters of the book of Exodus show us the value of mothers and how what they do shape the lives of children, nations, and history.
The human star of Exodus is Moses. But, Moses's story does not begin with Moses. It begins with the story of mothers, mothers that shaped his life and therefore shaped the world that they lived in and that subsequent generations have lived.
The first verse of Exodus begins, "These are the names of the children of Israel..." Then says that there are seventy or seventy-five descendants of Jacob. These descendants arrived because of four mothers, Leah, Rachel, Zilpah, and Bilhah. Mom, thanks for all that you do. You share your body to a little invader for nine months and then give birth to them. And it doesn't stop there. You feed them and love them and... Mom, thanks for everything you do!
Then there were the mothers who bore the children throughout the 400 years that Israel was in Egypt. They were a part of keeping the truth of God's promise to Abraham alive in the hearts of the children and the nation, one generation after another. Mom, thanks for all you do. When you teach your children their memory verse, when you bring them to worship service, when you read the Bible to them, you teach them the truth... Oh, it matters! Mom, thanks for all you do!
Then there are the two midwives who took care of the mothers of Israel in Egypt, Shiprah, and Puah. They cared for other mothers and became mothers themselves. Their courage may have been one thing that emboldened mothers of Israel to refuse the oppressive commandments of Pharaoh. And God gave them families of their own! Mom, thanks for all you do. Thanks for the moments that you show courage to us by doing things that may terrify you, but you know that they must be done for our good and the good of future generations. It matters!
Then there is Moses's own mother. We only later learn that her name is Jochebed. In Exodus 2, she is simply named Amram's wife. She is nameless in her first appearance. Her badge of honor is that she is a mother. And the writer of Hebrews calls her a person of great faith. She hid Moses for three months. She saw that he was a special child. It literally says that he was a beautiful child. Mom, thanks for thinking we are beautiful. Thanks for thinking we are the best. Jochebed saw that God had a greater purpose for her baby and she was not afraid to disobey the king's command (Hebrews 11:23). Mom, thanks for knowing when to break the rules for our benefit! Jochebed's insight caused her to place her baby in a basket and pitch it with tar and send him out on the Nile. Mom, thanks for all that you do. There may be places where you have to send your children out in a less than ideal environment, but you send us out covered with a network of prayer and a covering. Oh, how many times it has happened to me that I have asked a mother if she had anything that I could pray with her about something and she replied, my children. Mom, thanks for never giving up on us! Thanks for all that you do!
Then there is Pharoah's daughter. I am not sure if she had any biological children. But, that day as she bathed in the Nile she found the basket Jochabed had placed her beautiful baby in. She embraced him and named him Moses. She made sure he was taken care of. She hired Moses's own mother to nurse him, to care for him. Pharaoh's daughter gave Moses the best she knew to give him. By the time he was 40 years old, he was a man mighty in word and deed. He was educated in all the wisdom of Egypt. Pharoah's daughter was a mother to Moses who gave him the opportunity to grow up to be the deliverer that he would eventually become. Mom, you may have some children that are not biologically yours, but they are your's. Thanks for all that you do!
Without these mothers along with the other women in Exodus 1-2 there is no Moses. Without Moses, there is no deliverance from Egypt, no Exodus, no Torah, no nation, no fulfilled promise to Abraham and the list goes on all the way down to the time when an angel was sent from heaven to a young virgin named Mary. He told her that she was going to be the mother of the Messiah. After the angel explained that it would be a miracle conception through the Spirit of God, Mary said, "Be it unto me according to your word."
Her Son would pray similar words one day in a garden, "Not My will, but Your's be done." And then Jesus went to the cross to die for our sins, was buried, and rose the third day according to the Scriptures. Mom, you have more influence than you know. Thank you!
Mom, you love us. Thank you!
Mom, you heal us and protect us. Thank you!
Mom, teach us. Thank you!
No sacrifice is meaningless. All that you do for your children matters. The hand that rocks the cradle rules the world.
Conclusion
On this Mother's Day, we celebrate you. We want to take a moment to pray for you and ask God's blessing and strength. We want to ask God to give you rest today.
We have a prayer cloth for each of you. We have prayed over each of them and asked God to give you three things: strength, resilience, and open eyes to see that all that you do matters.
