Happy Mothers Day
My life is surrounded with good mothers. My mother has always been an incredible example of Christian womanhood. Her rules and standards and punishments never wavered. Never. And neither did her love for her children. The same woman who folded her arms staring me down as I was about to get a well-deserved paddling from my dad … also stood outside the door crying when I got it. I remember “catching” my mother kneeling at my bedside praying for my survival when I was wrestling with cancer. She immediately affirmed my calling to be a pastor. And if I ever want to hear that I am a good speaker/writer/pastor/father/ (fill in this blank with whatever), I can just drop by Mamas house.
Thank God that I married a great mother. Polly grew up as a child of divorce, and without a mother in her home. But she is an all-star mama. If she had a dollar for every mile she has driven to schools and ballgames, she could buy all the things I cannot afford to give her. For years she was a stay-at-home mom and a home-school teacher. That might be the most difficult full-time job combo in the world. Add to that the challenge of being the wife of a pastor, and the mother of the “preachers kids.” She has weathered all the smart remarks and insane expectations that come with that.
Now one of my daughters is a mother. And a world-class one. Some children of large families (Hannah is the oldest of 6) do not want kids at all. For Hannah, mothering comes as easily as swimming to a fish. By the time she was a teenager, she had already changed, bathed, fed, and disciplined more kids than most grown women ever do. And her natural mothering instincts are unmistakeable. Hey, she learned from one of the best.
So, as always – but especially this weekend, thank God for mothers. And from the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU LORD for the ones who surround me.
Kevin,
Thank you. Sometimes I don”t think we say thank you enough or hear it enough. As a mother to 5 children, ranging from 19 and in college to 7 and in second grade, I often think my job is under appreciated rarely hearing…Thank you . I was an only child so sometimes the large family can be a bit over whelming. Sometimes I feel like things are just expected of me. The cooking, the cleaning, the driving around from school, to ball games. Sometimes, I would love to sit back and just be… instead of being but then I realized I would be bored. Anyway… We are actually celebrating mothers day next weekend when my daughter comes home from college but again, I just wanted to say thanks for putting it all into perspective, I hope I am half as good a mother to my children as my mother was to me. I pray that God gives me the strength, heart and mind to love them enough to share Gods word, teach them right from wrong, to appreciate their accomplishments and share the burdens of their disappointments. Thanks again.. and looking forward to God Rocking My Socks through your preaching tomorrow!