A little girl was looking at the wedding pictures of her parents and asked her father, "Daddy, is that the day you got Mom to come and work for us?" A teacher gave her second-grade class a lesson on magnets, then asked a boy, "Now, my name starts with an 'M' and I pick up things. What am I?" The boy replied instantly, "A mother?"
Mothers need all the encouragement they can find. That's what Anna Jarvis thought when she decided upon her mother's death in 1905 to make a day in her memory. She copyrighted "Mother's Day" with the U.S. Patent Office, then wrote governors, state legislators, congressmen, even the president. Finally, in 1914 President Wilson signed a proclamation making Mother's Day a national observance.
Anna Jarvis had the right idea for our culture, but also for our souls. Mothers have the single greatest influence on their children's eternal souls. That is the simple point I want to make today. (Tweet this)
When Mary was asked by Gabriel to become the mother of the Messiah, she risked her life with the commitment, "I am the Lord's servant. May it be to me as you have said" (Luke 1:38). Her Son would later say to his Father in the Garden of Gethsemane, "Not as I will, but as you will" (Matthew 26:39).
Is this the pattern of history?
Moses was raised in the pagan culture, traditions, and religion of Egypt. And yet because of his spiritual mother, he never forgot his God or his people, and one day led them to their Promised Land. Samuel's mother, Hannah, was fervent in prayer, trusting God for a son. She gave that son back to the Lord. And he became Israel's last judge, first prophet, and great spiritual leader.
Paul said to young Timothy, "I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also" (2 Timothy 1:5). Is it not true that what their mothers were, their children became?
Does the pattern continue across history? The mother of Nero was a murderer, as was he. Of the 69 kings in France's history, there were only three who were truly loved and respected by their subjects—the only ones reared by loving mothers. Sir Walter Scott's mother was a woman of education and a great lover of the arts. So was he. The mother of George Washington was known for her integrity of character, as was her son.
Abraham Lincoln said, "All that I am, or hope to be, I owe to my angel mother." John Newton's mother prayed for her wayward, sinful son, until he came to the Amazing Grace of which his hymn testifies. (Tweet this)
Our ministry exists to equip and encourage Christians to change their culture for the Kingdom. No one deserves such encouragement more than mothers. W. R. Wallace noted, "The hand that rocks the cradle is the hand that rules the world." If yours is such a hand, would you ask God for the wisdom and strength to lead your children to their Father? If you're not a mother, will you encourage someone who is?
Publication date: May 8, 2015
For more from the Denison Forum on Truth and Culture, please visit www.denisonforum.org.
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