The Difference Mothers Make

Introduction:

A. Today is Mother’s Day, so we want to express our love and appreciation to all the mothers who are with us today.

1. Mother’s Day is one of my favorite days of the year, because I love and appreciate all the mothers in my life.

2. My experience with the mothers in my life has been very positive – My grandmothers were great, my mother is wonderful, my mother-in-law is super, and my wife, the mother of my daughters is amazing.

3. I recognize that not everyone has been as blessed as I am in this way.

4. Mother’s day is hard for many people for a number of reasons.

5. For some, their experience with the mothers in their lives has been less than desirable.

6. For others, Mother’s Day is a sad day because the mothers in their lives have all passed on.

7. And then, there are those who desperately want to be mothers, but that experience has alluded them, so Mother’s Day brings with it a heart of disappointment and frustration.

B. Nevertheless, in spite of the difficulties that Mothers Day brings, it is right for us to honor God’s plan for motherhood, and to aspire to be the very best mothers a person can be.

C. Let’s start with a bit of motherly humor.

1. The story is told of a soldier at Fort Benning who received a package of cookies from his mother.

a. After roll call, the drill sergeant gave the trainee the choice of throwing the cookies out or eating them while he did one-arm push-ups.

b. To everyone’s surprise, he chose the later. As everyone watched with amazement, the soldier ate the cookies while doing one-armed push-ups.

c. Out of breath, and with a mouthful of cookies, he said, “This is a breeze compared to what my mother would do to me if she heard I threw her cookies away.”

2. Another story is told of a 4 year-old and 6 year-old who presented their mom with a houseplant for mother’s day.

a. They had used their own money and she was thrilled.

b. The 6 year-old, with a sad face said, “There was an arrangement of flowers at the flower shop that we wanted to give you. It was real pretty, but it cost too much. It had a ribbon on it that said, ‘Rest in Peace.’ We thought you would like it because you are always asking for a little peace so you can rest.”

3. Here’s one more quick one: A little boy forgot his lines during the Sunday School play.

a. His mother was in the front row trying to prompt him.

b. His line was the words of Jesus, “I am the light of the world.”

c. So mom started whispering “I am the light of the world…I am the light of the world.”

d. The little boy finally picked up on it, and with his face beaming and with great feeling said, “My mother is the light of the world.”

D. Many children feel about their mothers like the quip I put in the bulletin today from the old Dennis the Menace cartoon, when Dennis said to his dad, “Did you ever notice how Mom’s smile stays in the room even after she leaves?”

1. Mothers, indeed, play a very special role in this world and in the lives of their children, and we must never forget that.

2. God’s wonderful plan for humanity begins with mothers. Praise the Lord!

3. So Moms don’t ever doubt the significance of your role.

4. “The Hand that Rocks the Cradle Rules the World” - that poem by William Wallace is the truth.

E. The late Erma Bombeck was a great writer and humorist. Her honest and “down to earth” style usually captured some profound truths. Let’s spend a moment with something she wrote about Mother’s Day:

“For the first 4 or 5 years after I had children, I considered motherhood a temporary condition -- not a calling. It was a time of my life set aside for exhaustion and long hours. It would pass. Then one afternoon, with 3 kids in tow, I came out of a supermarket pushing a cart (with four wheels that went in opposite directions) when my toddler son got away from me. Just outside the door, he ran toward a machine holding bubble gum in a glass dome. In a voice that shattered glass he shouted, ‘Gimme! Gimme!’ I told him I would give him what for if he didn’t stop shouting and get in the car.

“As I physically tried to pry his body from around the bubble gum machine, he pulled the entire thing over. Glass and balls of bubble gum went all over the parking lot. We had now attracted a sizable crowd.