According to a recent statistical study done in 2012, it was reported that there are two billion mothers in the world. And on the 2nd Sunday in the month of May, which is this weekend, the world celebrates Mothers’ Day. Most of these two billion mothers will be appreciated and celebrated.
There is a Jewish Proverb that says, “God could not be everywhere and therefore he made mothers.”
While I may not fully agree with this saying but I agree that it takes a special grace to be a good mom.
While preparing this message, I thought about whom could I liken mothers to and the following was I came up with.
1. Moms are Superheroes!
Recently, our family went out to watch Ironman 3 and my children were totally won over by Ironman’s power and ability to save the world from the bad guys. While watching the movie, I couldn’t help but thought that moms are really like superheroes too!
It does not matter if you are a working mom, or a stay-at-home mom, to your kids you are their world. You make them feel safe, even when there is chaos around them.
You make the boogie men disappear, quell their growling stomachs with nourishment, put band-aids on their boo-boos, and stop the tears when their feelings are hurt with the squeeze of a good hug when no one else will do. You provide for them. You care for them. You protect them. That is YOU!
Ironman may save the world but YOU save the day for your kids when the going gets tough!
Superman may have laser vision that can see through walls, but YOU can see through any lie when you stare at your kids hard enough especially when they told you that they had flossed their teeth when in fact they did not!
Bionic Man may be able to hear conversations of evil individuals from far away, but Moms, we can read the minds of our children and say no to them before they ask or to discern their intentions and catch them before they throw themselves off the top bunk bed pretending to be Superman!
Once I told my daughter that she should not do something before she ask and she turned to me with horror and asked, “How did you know I was about to ask you that!?” I winked at her and said, “I forgot to tell, Baby, that secretly I am a superhero. God has given me the power to read minds!”
Wonderwoman may be able to zapped into her superhero outfit anytime any where but YOU can get your kids ready for school with their lunches in their bags, let the dog out to the yard, clean up the house and be dressed and fully made up for work and still be the first to wait in the car for everyone else!
Moms, you are amazing!
Psalms 91: 1 -16
Because you have made the Lord, who is my refuge,
Even the Most High, your dwelling place,
No evil shall befall you,
Nor shall any plague come near your dwelling;
For He shall give His angels charge over you,
To keep you in all your ways.
In their hands they shall bear you up,
Lest you dash your foot against a stone.
You shall tread upon the lion and the cobra,
The young lion and the serpent you shall trample underfoot.
“Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore I will deliver him;
I will set him on high, because he has known My name.
He shall call upon Me, and I will answer him;
I will be with him in trouble;
God is our Superhero – He lovingly guides us and fiercely protects us just like our moms!
2. Moms are Saints!
Yes, moms are truly saints, well, at least close to being one considering:
– How you faithfully forgive your children regardless of the number of times that they disobeyed you.
– How you painstakingly clean up dirty diapers even on days when you are not well enough to even get out of bed
– How you patiently stay up all night waiting for your teenage daughter or son to return from a party despite the fact that you have to report to work early in the morning for a very important meeting with the CEO just so that you can ensure that they are alright.
Psalms 103:3-5
Who forgives all your iniquities,
Who heals all your diseases,
Who redeems your life from destruction,
Who crowns you with lovingkindness and tender mercies,
Who satisfies your mouth with good things,
So that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
No matter what we have done or where we are or what we will do, God has chosen to forgive us and to bless us. In many ways, that is how our moms are. Despite all the conflicts we have had or even still are having and all the differences that exist, we know deep down that the heart of a mother is always for her children.
3. Moms are fairies too!
Everyone knows that you are the one who would sneak into your kid’s room in the middle of the night, gently searched under their pillow for that little tooth that fell off earlier in the day so that you could replace it with a gold coin! – YOU are moms in the day and fairies at night!
I remembered a couple of years ago while driving all of my kids to school, Ethan suddenly turned to me and said, “Mom, tell me the truth, you are the tooth fairy right?”.
I was caught off guard and as I battled if I should tell him the truth, which is a golden rule in our family and something Derek and I embraced fully in our parenting philosophy, or to deny it as my two other younger girls were also in the car and I did not want to spoil the fun for them, my youngest child Erika who was only four years old then suddenly exclaimed, “You are the tooth fairy? Mom, tell me how you can make yourself so small?”
I laughed so hard that day that I had tears in my eyes. From that day forward, my children knew that there are no tooth fairies but there always is Mom who will sneak into their room while they are asleep to replace their fallen tooth with a gold coin. Moms, you are the fairies that bring the element of fun and surprise in your children’s lives.
John 16:24 – Until now you have asked nothing in My name. Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.
Just as Our Father is One who always seeks to surprise us and to fill our hearts with joy; Mothers, you constantly think of ways to fill your children’s day with fun and laughter. You like to surprise them just to see the expressions on their faces.
You always know what to get them on their birthdays or just any other day because you know them and their hearts more than they can comprehend kind of what our Father in heaven is like.
Matthew 6:8 … For your Father knows the things you have need of before you ask Him
4. Moms are Specially Chosen by God
Life is full of choices but there are 3 things in life that we cannot choose.
They are:
1. The consequences of our choice
2. The hour of our birth and our death
3. The kind of family and the moms and dads that we would end up with
You don’t choose your family. They are God’s gift to you, as you are to them. – Bishop Desmond Tutu
James 1:17 – Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.
Every child is a perfect gift from God and no child is an accident no matter how he was conceived. Hence, motherhood is not accidental too. God saw you and counted you worthy to be the caregiver of your child.
If indeed God is the One who has chosen us to be mothers and every child is a gift from Him, so what are God’s expected roles for mothers?
1. We are to LOVE our children unreservedly.
John 13:34-35 – A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another; as I have loved you, that you also love one another. By this all will know that you are My disciples, if you have love for one another.”
Matthew 22:38-40 – This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets.”
We are commanded to love just as Christ has loved. We are told to love ourselves and to love others especially those in our natural household and in the household of God.
1 Timothy 5:8 – But if anyone does not provide for his own, and especially for those of his household, he has denied the faith and is worse than an unbeliever.
We are called to love our children whether they get good grades, good looks or are successful or not. We love them whether they are straight or gay. We love them whether they chose to follow God or follow the world. We love despite of and regardless of. We choose to love (full stop!).
2. We are to DISCIPLE our children diligently.
A. Discipleship is a command
Matthew 28:19-20 – Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.
The call to make disciples are not reserved for the church leaders. It is a universal call for all believers and followers.
And if we are expected to disciple others, what more our own flesh and blood! Derek and I both agreed that our children must be our priority when it comes to discipleship. If we do not disciple our children, we disqualify ourselves from discipling others.
B. Discipleship is a lifestyle.
Deuteronomy 6:7 – You shall teach them (the statues of God) diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, when you walk by the way, when you lie down, and when you rise up.
Discipleship often happens in the most natural of ways, while we eat and talk and fellowship. In another word, discipleship is a lifestyle. Someone once said, preach Christ but only use words when it’s absolutely necessary.
C. Discipling our children is a demonstration of our love and by doing so give them a sense of security
Proverbs 13:24 – He who spares his rod hates his son, But he who loves him disciplines him promptly.
When your mother asks, “Do you want a piece of advice?” it’s a mere formality. It doesn’t matter if you answer yes or no. You’re going to get it anyway.” ― Erma Bombeck
God expects to discipline our children out of love for them and He does the same.
Hebrews 12:5-7
…“My son, do not despise the chastening of the Lord,
Nor be discouraged when you are rebuked by Him;
For whom the Lord loves He chastens,
And scourges every son whom He receives.”
If you endure chastening, God deals with you as with sons; for what son is there whom a father does not chasten?
As a mother, we are to…
1. LOVE our children unreservedly
2. DISCIPLE them diligently
Finally…
3. We are to LEAVE an Inheritance for them
Proverbs 13:22 – A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, But the wealth of the sinner is stored up for the righteous.
God expects us to be good stewards of what we have here on earth and to leave an inheritance for our children.
He also wants us to leave a spiritual heritage for many generations after us. Such heritage was clearly seen in the life of young Timothy whom Paul raised to pastor the church in Ephesus.
2 Timothy 1:5 – when I call to remembrance the genuine faith that is in you, which dwelt first in your grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am persuaded is in you also.
I know that we are living in challenging times economically, however, let us believe that God is willing and able to provide more than enough for us and for our children and our children’s children.
It may take a while for us to build that financial heritage but we can make a decision to start building our spiritual heritage. How do we do that?
Make a daily decision to live by the Word of God and build a heritage of faith
I enjoy reading bible stories to my children and they are never tired of hearing stories of great men and women of faith who lived thousand of years.
However, what excites them most is when I share with them what God said and did and what He is saying and doing now TODAY in my life.
Exodus 3: 6 – Moreover He said, “I am the God of your father—the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.”
He is also the God of Susan, the God of Amy, the God of Jacqueline, the God of you, you and you! And our God is the same yesterday, today and forever.
What He did for Abraham, for Moses, for the woman with the issue of blood, for the Zarephath widow, He can do it for us!
Will we make a choice to trust and believe and see the hands of God on our lives that we may pass on this heritage to the generations that will come after?
God does expects us to love our children, to disciple them and to leave an inheritance for them.
However, there is ONE thing that God does not expect from us – He does NOT expect us to be PERFECT!
We might have loved our children the best that we could, tried to teach them the best that we knew how but they might not have chosen as we would have or lived as we would have desired them to.
Understand that while we may not be perfect moms but we have a perfect Father in heaven. He is actively involved in our lives and is always thinking of us and our children to bring us into our future and our hopes.
What we cannot do, GOD CAN!
He will undo the wrong, He will restore and He will heal.
I know God appreciates you as a mother for taking care of your children and being the expression of His unconditional love for them.
Have a Happy Mother’s Day because you deserve it!
Love,
Susan Dunn
WOW31 