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Ingleside Presbyterian Church A Congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America |
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Ingleside Presbyterian Church A Congregation of the Presbyterian Church in America |
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On the first day of Middle School, Mark had to write
his autobiography for his language arts teacher. His mom picked it
up and read: “I have two sisters…my father is an engineer…my hobbies
are…” There was not a word about his mom. She asked him
about it. “Oh, Mom, you’re only a mother. Look at Tommy’s
mom. She’s a nurse. You’re just a mother.” You moms
out there this morning—you raise children (and sometimes husbands) and
you can get lost in the shuffle. I want you moms to know today
that you are people—VERY SPECIAL PEOPLE! An aged white-haired mother sat with a smile on her
face in the White House, waiting for her famous son, President Dwight D.
Eisenhower to arrive. Someone said to her, “You must be very proud
of your great and illustrious son.” Mrs. Eisenhower, who had seven
sons, wisely replied, “Which one?” There is a balancing act moms
perform everyday. It is easy for me to speak of motherhood in
high and lofty terms today, because it is one of the highest callings
God has given. Look at the life of Susannah Wesley, who raised 19
children. She gave each child one hour of religious instruction
weekly. Two of her sons, Charles and John, turned the spiritual
tide of In modern When a woman becomes a mom for the first time, she
has often read lots of stuff on parenting and can focus on this one
bundle of joy. I’ve heard that moms adjust their goals and expectations
when subsequent children are added to the family. Actually, you
adjust before the second or third one arrives. I read that when a
mom is preparing for the birth of her first baby, she practices her
breathing religiously. With the second child, she doesn’t bother
practicing because she remembers that the last time, breathing didn’t do
a thing. With the onset of the third child, she asks for an
epidural in her 8th month. When new moms get a sitter so she can
spend the evening with her husband, she calls home five times.
With the second baby, just before she walks out the door, mom remembers
to leave a number with the sitter where she can be reached. But
with the third baby, you leave instructions for the sitter to call ONLY
if she sees blood. And when new moms are at home with the first
baby, she spends a good bit of every day just gazing at the child.
With the second baby, she spends a bit of every day watching to be sure
that her older child isn’t squeezing, poking or hitting the baby.
And with the third baby, mom spends a little bit of every day hiding
from the children. Family and married life is truly a juggling act.
If we’re not careful, we can get onto a road of self-destruction.
So many couples remain together but are emotionally divorced.
Former baseball pitcher Larry Paige once said, “Don’t look back, man.
Something might be gaining on you.” I am a native Southerner, but I am unlike most
southern men because I really don’t care for NASCAR. I have three
sons who absolutely love it. They watch it on TV, just praying to
watch a wreck or a car catch on fire. I can’t see the point in
200+ laps around an oval track, but I’m outvoted…a good portion of John 15:12-17 (Jesus is speaking): “This is my
commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love
has no man than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.
You are my friends, if you do what I command you. No longer do I call
you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing;
but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father
I have made known to you. You did not choose me, but I chose you &
appointed you that you should go & bear fruit & that your fruit should
abide, so that whatever you ask the Father in my name, he may give it to
you. These things I command you, so that you will love one
another.” What an incredible description of love—the perfect
love that comes to us from our holy God and Savior, Jesus Christ. I’m not going to preach from that passage this
morning, but I want to use it as a springboard for sharing four things
for moms this morning. I have four “Ls” for us to pick up during
this “pit stop.” So, “gentlemen (and ladies) start your engines…”
and yes, I know that is from the
As a mom…as a Christian…you are called to be an
Encourager. To encourage is to give courage, to inspire, to
hearten, cheer up and lift up. I Thess. 5:11 “Therefore encourage
one another & build one another up, just as you are doing.”
Catherine the Second of Russia said, “I praise loudly; I blame softly.”
A young husband saw his frazzled wife with their
small baby and he tried to encourage her by saying, “Honey, I now that
the baby is wiping you out, but remember that the hand that rocks the
cradle is the hand that rules the world.” The wife responded:
“How about taking over the world for a few hours while I go to the
mall?” Mom is the mood-setter of the home. You’ve
heard the saying: “If Mama ain’t happy, ain’t nobody happy.”
The rest of that is: “If Daddy ain’t happy, nobody cares.” I’ll
probably address that on Father’s Day next month… A few things mom can
do:
In the book Laugh After Laugh: The Healing
Power of Humor, the author gives examples of patients who have laughed
themselves back to health or at least found adaptive capabilities
through laughter. Dr. Jeffrey Goldstein of I remember “mom” sayings when I was growing up.
My mom taught me foresight when she said, “Make sure you wear clean
underwear in case you’re in an accident. I don’t want the folks in
the emergency room to think I’m not taking good care of you.” She
also warned me, “When that lawn mower cuts off your toes, don’t come
running to me.” So, a humorous mom…
James 1:19 “Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak, slow to anger.” We’ve heard that God had a definite intention in mind when He designed our heads with two ears and only one mouth. He wants us to listen. So, one of the best things we can do as parents is to
pay attention. When I was doing youth work, one of the biggest
complaints the teenagers would have about their folks was “They won’t
listen to me.” (Of course, I had parents of teens say the same
thing to me.” Pastor Chuck Swindoll relates a garbled Marine base
story: “The colonel issued this directive: ‘Tomorrow evening at
approximately 20 hundred hours, Halley’s Comet will be visible in this
area, an event which occurs once every seventy five years. Have
the men fall out in the battalion area in fatigues, and I will explain
this rare phenomenon to them. In case of rain we will not be able
to see anything, so assemble the men in the theater and I will show them
films of it.” The executive officer to the company commander: “By
order of the colonel, tomorrow at 20 hundred Hours, Halley’s Comet will
appear above the battalion area. If the rains, fall the men out in
fatigues; then mark to the theater where the rare phenomenon will take
place, something which occurs only once every 75 years.” The
company commander to a sergeant: “Tomorrow at 20 hundred hours,
the colonel, in fatigues, will appear in the theater with Halley’s
Comet, something which happens every 75 years. If it rains, the
colonel will order the comet into the battalion area. The sergeant
to his squad: “When it rains tomorrow at 20 hundred hours, the
phenomenal 75 year-old Gen. Halley, accompanied by the colonel, will
drive his Comet through the battalion area theater in fatigues.”
Communication is truly an art, isn’t it? If you listen to your children when they’re little,
chances are they’ll still be talking when they are teenagers. It
is interesting that the Hebrew word for “wisdom” literally means, “a
heart that listens.” When kids talk to dads, men are wired to
listen for a problem to solve. Moms, who are wired with a desire
to nurture, are more apt to really hear what the children are saying.
Whether we are parents or not, we should all desire to have wisdom and
one of the ways we get it is through keeping our mouths shut and
listening.
In our John 15 passage, Jesus said, “Greater love has
no one than this, that someone lays down his life for his friends.”
I don’t believe that outside of the perfect love of the Lord Jesus
Christ, no one can love like a mother can. Most moms would step
out in front of a bus if it would save their children from harm.
I’ve stood by moms of injured children who told me, “I would change
places with them if I could.” Several ways that love is expressed
by moms:
A little boy handed his mom a piece of paper where he
listed the chores he had done and he put a price by each one:
“Playing with little brother while mom was at the store $1.00; a good
report card, $20; raking the leaves, $10…and so on. The paper
totaled $65. The mom took the paper, turned it over, and listed
some of her accomplishments: “For the nine months, I carried you
growing inside me, no charge; for the nights I sat up with you, doctored
you, prayed for you—no charge; when you add it all up, the full cost of
my love is—no charge.” The boy took the paper and said, “Mom, I
sure love you.” And he took the paper and wrote: “Paid in full.”
That is what God has done for us—“paid in full.” And the full cost
of God’s love is no charge. President Lincoln once said, “No one is poor who had
a godly mother.” The husbands and children of Ingleside Church are
grateful today that we are wealthy folks, because of the moms in our
congregation who selflessly give of themselves; first to the Lord and
then to their families. Motherhood “done right” is a joint
venture—it is moms submitting themselves to the Lordship of Jesus Christ
in their lives and begging the Holy Spirit to guide them as they guide
their children. It is walking “hand-in-hand” with the Lord Jesus as you
raise your kids. I see so many of you moms exemplifying that on a
daily basis. So, moms of Ingleside—we truly wish you a Happy
Mother’s Day. Please pray with me. Please visit us at our next worship service.
In Christ,
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