Shakethe Dust Off Your Feet

Mothers Who Love

On this day that we honor mothers, its good for us to think about how much you really do. Being a mother is not a walk in the park…

By the time a child reaches 18, a mother has had to handle some extra 18,000 hours of child-generated work. In fact, women who never have children enjoy the equivalent of an extra three months a year in leisure time!

A Junior High science teacher lectured on the properties of magnets for an entire class. The next day he gave his students a quiz. The first question read like this: “My name begins with an “M,” has six letters, and I pick things up. What am I?” Half the kids in the class wrote, “Mother.”

That reminds me of the father who was trying to explain the concept of marriage to his 4-year-old daughter. He got out their wedding album, thinking visual images would help, and explained the entire wedding service to her. When he was finished, he asked if she had any questions. She pointed to a picture of the wedding party and asked, “Daddy, is that when mommy came to work for us?

My dad and I were talking this week about how influential mothers are. While we were talking I remembered hearing this quote: “If daddy ain’t happy, who cares? If momma ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy!” He laughed and said, “That’s true in our house.” I think it’s probably true in ours as well.

Ralph Waldo Emerson has said, “Men are what their mothers make them” and an old Spanish proverb says, “An ounce of mother is worth a pound of clergy.”

Shake the Dust from Your Feet - Luke 9:3-5

"Don’t even take along a walking stick," he instructed them, "nor a traveler’s bag, nor food, nor money. Not even an extra coat. When you enter each village, be a guest in only one home. If the people of the village won’t receive your message when you enter it, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave. It is a sign that you have abandoned that village to its fate." (NLT) Full Text

Key Thought

Some folks are determined to reject the message of Jesus. There are many reasons why this is true, but all the reasons boil down to one truth -- Satan has poisoned their hearts to the good news of God’s Kingdom in Jesus Christ. Rather than keep beating our heads against a wall that the evil one has erected in the heart of someone, God calls us to move on in our efforts to reach others. If we are in the same family or office or neighborhood and have regular proximity to them and can’t move on, then we are called to live our faith before them and pray that our actions will demonstrate the faith we profess and win them before the day of Christ.

Today’s Prayer

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Father, please give me wisdom to know the best way to share the message of Jesus with all those that I know who are not yet Christians. Father, I recognize that only you can break down the barriers Satan erects in the hearts of those who reject your message. Help me know when it is best to move on and leave that work to you. In the lives of those near and dear to me, please use my daily faithfulness to be the method to win their hearts for Jesus, in whose name I pray. Amen.

Today’s Verses in Context

1One day Jesus called together his twelve apostles and gave them power and authority to cast out demons and to heal all diseases. 2Then he sent them out to tell everyone about the coming of the Kingdom of God and to heal the sick. 3"Don’t even take along a walking stick," he instructed them, "nor a traveler’s bag, nor food, nor money. Not even an extra coat. 4When you enter each village, be a guest in only one home. 5If the people of the village won’t receive your message when you enter it, shake off its dust from your feet as you leave. It is a sign that you have abandoned that village to its fate."

6So they began their circuit of the villages, preaching the Good News and healing the sick.

7When reports of Jesus’ miracles reached Herod Antipas, F41 he was worried and puzzled because some were saying, "This is John the Baptist come back to life again." 8Others were saying, "It is Elijah or some other ancient prophet risen from the dead."

9"I beheaded John," Herod said, "so who is this man about whom I hear such strange stories?" And he tried to see him.