Today is Mother’s Day … and one thing I want to make clear is this: Being a mom is truly an adventure! And if you’re a mom who is present today, I’m sure you’ll agree with me. A story is told about one mom who had an incredible adventure one day, while she entertained guests in her home. She’d tried her best to teach her young son about the importance of prayer. When they all sat down to dinner, hoping to show off his newfound skills in prayer, she experienced this:
One blistering hot day when they had guests for dinner, the mom asked her 4-year old Johnny to return thanks. ‘But I don’t know what to say!’ the boy complained. ‘Oh, just say what you hear me say’ his mother replied. Obediently the boy bowed his head and mumbled, ‘Oh Lord, why did I invite these people over on a hot day like this?’
It’s always an adventure, isn’t it moms? Being a mom is a real calling of God, too; did you know that? Not everyone is called to this very special task in life. And, truthfully, the only way one can truly fulfill this calling with any amount of success … is with God’s help. Scripture describes what it means to be ‘a truly good woman … or wife … or mother. Listen now as the writer of Proverbs (31:10-31, NLT) describes one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity…
Who can find a virtuous and capable wife? She is more precious than rubies. 11 Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. 12 She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life. 13 She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. 14 She is like a merchant’s ship, bringing her food from afar. 15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work for her servant girls. 16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. 18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night. 19 Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber. 20 She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy. 21 She has no fear of winter for her household, for everyone has warm clothes. 22 She makes her own bedspreads. She dresses in fine linen and purple gowns. 23 Her husband is well known at the city gates, where he sits with the other civic leaders. 24 She makes belted linen garments and sashes to sell to the merchants. 25 She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. 26 When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness. 27 She carefully watches everything in her household and suffers nothing from laziness. 28 Her children stand and bless her. Her husband praises her: 29 “There are many virtuous and capable women in the world, but you surpass them all!” 30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. 31 Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise. – Proverbs 31:10-31 (NLT)
Folks, I’m thankful for our ‘truly good … mothers.’ We have been blessed indeed! And using this final section of Proverbs that describes the ‘ideal,’ I believe we can all see some of our own mothers in these verses…
But, before I go on, let me tell you a little about Mother’s Day in general; did you know…
We owe—in part—the celebration of Mother’s Day to a mom by the name of Julia Ward Howe, who first publically called for a Mother’s Day celebration in 1872…
It took until 1907 for Mother’s Day to be officially celebrated for the first time by Anna Jarvis of Grafton, West Virginia, who really wanted to commemorate her mom’s death (2 years prior); she did this privately. Looking for a broader audience to help celebrate this special day, Jarvis organized a celebration the very next year (1908), involving 407 children with their mothers at the Andrew’s Methodist Church in Grafton (part of our tradition)…
The first ‘official’ holiday was set by the State of West Virginia in 1910…
A proclamation designating the 2nd Sunday in May as Mother’s Day was then signed into action by President Woodrow Wilson on May 14, 1914 … and so the general recognition and appreciation for mothers began…
A couple of weeks ago now, we talked about entering into worship with thankful hearts—with attitudes of gratitude. This worship service is no different. Our focus on this Mother’s Day, however, is moms … and that’s what I come here most thankful for today. I encourage you to join me in that mindset as we explore the author of Proverbs’ description of a ‘truly good woman (or mother)’ today… So, using today’s scripture as our guide, we celebrate and are most thankful for…
MOTHERS WITH STRONG CHARACTER. Verses 11-12 say again, “Her husband can trust her, and she will greatly enrich his life. 12 She brings him good, not harm, all the days of her life.” TRUST … is one of those necessary things in any relationship; it has to do with a strong moral character … and how wonderful that is when brought into any relationship. We need to be able to TRUST those we’re in relationship with unquestionably, but there’s more to these verses … and to this idea of TRUST. Let me explain further…
The Hebrew word ‘batah’ used here in verse 11 really sets the theme. Unfortunately, most read these verses and think of the husband trusting his wife in terms of marital fidelity only; but that’s not all that it means. The husband’s deliberate and willful trust of the woman in his life (and his children’s lives) is one he can also count on for ‘economic security.’ The word ‘enrich’ used here in speaking of what this woman does for her husband’s life, can also refer to ‘profit.’ So, this woman greatly ‘profits’ the man’s life. In other words, his trust is not just for marital fidelity, but also for economic security … and it’s explained further in V. 13, which reads: “She finds wool and flax and busily spins it.” So, her work ethic was also a part of her strong character—the character we celebrate in moms today…
There’s an old Arabic proverb which says: “A clever woman is never without wool.” That’s part of the character of mother’s that we celebrate today—those whose character leads them to be resourceful for the ones they love! So, today we celebrate and are thankful for mothers with strong character! And we also celebrate:
MOTHERS WITH GREAT WISDOM. Verses 25-26 remind us of this: “She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future. 26 When she speaks, her words are wise, and she gives instructions with kindness.” John Wesley puts it this way in his Explanatory Notes: “She lives in constant tranquility of mind, from a just confidence in God’s gracious providence.” In other words, here is a person who can laugh in the face of the future, because of her great confidence in the God of the future! So, we celebrate that confidence built on faith today—a confidence found in many of our mothers. And the next verse goes on to speak specifically of a mother’s wisdom, but what is that exactly?
Robert Fulghum, a writer for the KANSAS CITY TIMES, summed it up well when he said: ’Most of what I really need to know about how to live, and what to do, and how to be, I learned in kindergarten. Wisdom was not at the top of the graduate school mountain, but there in the sandbox at nursery school. These are the things I learned:
Share everything…
Play fair…
Don’t hit people…
Put things back where you found them…
Clean up your own mess…
Don’t take things that aren’t yours…
Say you’re sorry when you hurt somebody…
[And] When you go out into the world: watch for traffic, hold hands, and stick together.’
And since I did not have the privilege of going to kindergarten, I learned these very same things from … my mom! So, what are the lessons you’ve learned from mom? What wisdom do we need to hang onto in order to inherit God’s kingdom [as little children]? According to today’s scripture, it’s the wisdom of our wives/moms…
As Tom Kraueter put it so eloquently last weekend: After being married to his wife, Barbara, for 30+ years, he now realizes that when she says ‘you need to read this’ or ‘you need to understand this,’ he now knows that he needs to listen to her—without question! Why? Because ‘when she speaks, her words are wise….’ We also celebrate today…
MOTHERS WITH MANY SKILLS. Verses 13-19 really lay this idea out for us:
“She finds wool and flax and busily spins it. 14 She is like a merchant’s ship, bringing her food from afar. 15 She gets up before dawn to prepare breakfast for her household and plan the day’s work for her servant girls. 16 She goes to inspect a field and buys it; with her earnings she plants a vineyard. 17 She is energetic and strong, a hard worker. 18 She makes sure her dealings are profitable; her lamp burns late into the night. 19 Her hands are busy spinning thread, her fingers twisting fiber.”
Our mother’s are ones whom God has gifted with the ability to ‘multi-task!’ If you’re anything like me, gentlemen, you will be thankful for this Gift from God! Moms are people who are endowed with a multitude of skills needed to love husbands … to raise families … and to prepare for the later years of life … like no one else! Am I the only one thankful for that today? We celebrate mothers with many skills—all God-given, acknowledging that without them, our world would not know the strength of families like it does today. And finally, we celebrate and are thankful for…
MOTHERS WITH GREAT COMPASSION. Verse 20 expounds on this in this way: “She extends a helping hand to the poor and opens her arms to the needy.” I can think of several moms who fit this description—those who constantly are reaching out to those less fortunate than themselves, as well as caring for their own families!
And when I think back on my own mother today, and all that I learned from her, I can’t help but think that she took this idea of ‘great compassion’ one step further. My mother taught us to love those less fortunate than ourselves, but she also taught us that—as followers of Jesus Christ—we also needed to learn to reach out to and love ‘the unlovable!’
I remember my mother discovering and first reading a book by Joyce Landorf Heatherley, entitled ‘Irregular People.’ In it, the author shares these thoughts:
“Most everyone has at least one person in their life who truly makes living … one continuous pain in the derriere. What heightens the pain is that this person is not a mere acquaintance of ours. No, unfortunately it is more complicated than that; for we are related to them, either by birth or marriage.”
Can anyone say, ‘Family reunion?’ There’s the test of true compassion, folks. There’s the test of true love for others. Not with those we do not know personally, but with those that we know intimately … and I’m thankful for a mother today who was truly filled with great compassion … even for those who drove her crazy! Today, we celebrate mothers who have great compassion for ALL others … and teach us to do the same…
Folks, as we come to the end of Proverbs, we find this book of the OT ends just as it begins—with a statement of the importance of faith. Verses 30-31 conclude in this way: “Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the LORD will be greatly praised. 31 Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.” Folks, let’s celebrate those moms today, shall we?
Today’s scripture has given us a synopsis of ‘a truly good … mother.’ And that gift of motherhood is what I’m most thankful for today. Take just a moment, would you, and think about your own mother. I acknowledge that this may not apply to all, but I’m sure that many of us have heard our mothers described in this proverb today. Won’t you join me in thanking God … for the incredible Gift of Moms?