It’s Not a Pack of Cigarettes
How many mothers here today received a Mother’s Day Card from your children?
Calvin & Hobbes was one of my favorite comic strips. On one Mother’s Day, Calvin is pictured standing by his mother’s bed. "Hey, Mom! Wake up. I made you a Mother’s Day card." "My, how sweet of you." she says. "I did it all by myself. Go ahead & read it."
She begins to read: "I was going to buy a card with hearts of pink & red.
But then I thought I’d rather spend the money on me instead.
It’s awfully hard to buy things when one’s allowance is so small.
So I guess you’re pretty lucky I got you anything at all.
Happy Mother’s Day. There, I’ve said it. Now I’m done.
So how about getting out of bed & fixing breakfast for your son." And it was signed, “Calvin”.
"I’m deeply moved," said his mother. "Did you notice the part about my allowance?" He asks.
Carol went to a meeting one evening. Her husband and children decided that they would do something special for mom, so they cleaned up the kitchen. They put away all the food, wiped all the counters, washed all the pots and put the dishes in the dishwasher — they even remembered to rinse! They swept and mopped the floor. Two hours later she came home from the meeting, glanced at the kitchen, took off her coat, grabbed the remote and plopped in front of the TV.
Dad and children were surprised that she hadn’t said anything about all their hard work. They followed her into the family room and just kind of stood there looking at her. “What?” she said. Her husband said, “The kitchen.” “The kitchen, what?” she said. He said, “Well, we cleaned it up for you. Didn’t you notice?” She said, “Oh yeah. Thankless job, isn’t it?”
Well, some of you may feel like Calvin’s mother or Carol this morning, wondering if anybody’s going to say, "Thanks, Mom. Thanks for all the great things you do." Being a mother is a tough job & we recognize & honor that today.
We need to express appreciation to our mothers because of the impact they have on our lives.
Mothers gave birth to us
Gen. 3:16 “To the woman God said, ‘I will greatly increase your pains in childbearing; with pain you will give birth to children.”
In pain, mothers give birth to their children. We men may have seen videos of it in Lamaze classes, but we’ve never experienced it. I don’t think there is any such thing as “painless childbirth”, epidurals notwithstanding.
A young couple had their first child. The first Sunday the new mother brought her baby to church everyone said something like, “Oh, what a cute baby!” And the mother said, “Yes, but he’s going to be an only child.”
At first, it was thought she meant she couldn’t have any more children, but what she was saying was, “I’M NEVER GOING THROUGH THIS AGAIN!”
Of course, we know that guys don’t see it the same way.
Another young couple had 5 children. The father was asked what he thought about this birth business and he said, “AH, IT’S JUST LIKE HAVING PIGS.” I bet they didn’t have any more children after that comment!
So, thank you moms, for going through the pain of childbirth for us!
Mothers raise us
Prov. 31:27, “She watches over the affairs of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness.”
Many mothers have devoted their entire lives to the home and the raising of their children.
You’ve heard the old saying, “Man works from sun to sun, but woman’s work is never done.” Mothers may well be the hardest-working people in the world!
Many mothers work at full-time jobs outside the home and then come home and continue to work. They come home, prepare the evening meal, do the dishes, do laundry, clean the house, catch up on work they brought home, and on and on until they fall asleep in their chair. So, thank you moms, for working hard and raising us!
Mothers protect us
Exod. 2:3, “When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and she plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.”
She took her baby boy and put him a basket and sent him down the river into the arms of Pharaoh’s daughter. She had to protect him from Pharaoh and if saving his life meant that her son would never know her – then that’s the way it had to be. She would protect him no matter what. Because of her protection Moses grew into a man and set his people free from the bondage of Egypt.
So, thank you moms, for protecting us!
Mothers sacrifice for us
1 Kings 17:14-15, “For this is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: The jar of flour will not be used up and the jug of oil will not run dry until the day the Lord gives rain on the land. She went away and did as Elijah told her. So there was food every day for Elijah and for the woman and her family.”
A teacher asked a boy this question: “Suppose your mother baked a pie and there were six of you—your parents and four children. What part of the pie would you get?” “A fifth,” replied the boy. “I’m afraid you don’t know your fractions,” said the teacher. “Remember, there are six of you.” “Yes, teacher,” said the boy, “but you don’t know my
mom. Mom would say she didn’t want any pie.”
So, thank you moms, for going without for us!
Mothers love us
1 Kings 3:26, “The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, ‘Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!’”
In all situations, mothers love us. I guess when it comes right down it, Mothers matter because of something more basic than their protection, support and teaching. The real reason that they matter is because they love us. No matter what they love us.
And that’s why they get better presents than dads do on Father’s Day. Mother’s Day always reminds me of the Bill Cosby bit where he talks about borrowing money from his dad to go buy him a pack of cigarettes for Father’s Day and then he smokes half of them on the way home.
But for mom on Mother’s Day, he gets a piece of wood out of the gutter, puts a little nick in it with a penknife, and presents it to mom on Mother’s Day. She starts crying and forgiving him for every thing he’s ever done.
Mothers love us no matter what.
Mother’s day is our opportunity to say, “Thank You, Mom.” Thanks for knowing we never meant it when we got mad and said we hated you. Thanks, for forgiving us when we broke your grandmothers antique china, thanks being a great mom even when we took you for granted. Thanks for making a difference in our lives. Thanks for loving us. And we want you to know that we love you too and we’re sorry for not saying it more often.”
