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Dripping Springs Weekly Bulletins
Mother: What Does She Mean to You?
With your permission I want to be a bit personal today. Ten years ago I lost my Mother. Many of you have lost one of your parents recently, and when that happens, whatever our age, a big “hole” is left in our hearts. I know that not all mothers are everything they could be, but that is true for all of us—parents, children and siblings.
For most of us, however, the very mention of “Mother” brings back vivid memories. To a marked degree, I am what I am because of her’s and my father’s influence.
I find myself using the same figures of speech. Hearing an old song often reminds me of hearing my father singing it. Today is a day dedicated to our mothers, and many of us are recalling those days at our mother’s knee. What did your mother leave you? And what does “Mother” mean to you?
I can speak only for myself, but think with me on this question.
An Example of Hard Work
Like others in her generation, hard labor was a given, expected as part of life. As a girl, she picked cotton and as an adult she worked to help pay my college expenses.
Her working outside the home changed the way we all looked at “home,” but when my father was in the hospital, it was a necessity. That was not the ideal, but from those circumstances, I learned about priorities, diligence, loyalty and dependability.
Today’s children would do well to observe the hard work of their mother and take to heart the words of Proverbs 31:10-31:
“The heart of her husband safely trusts in her…She will do him good and not evil…She seeks wool, and flax, and works willingly with her hands…She rises also while it is yet night, and gives food to her household…She lays her hands to the spindle… she reaches forth her hands to the needy…She looks well to the ways of her household, and eats not the bread of idleness.”
Hard work. Industry. Love. These are some words that come to mind when we think of “mother.”
An Example of Devotion
The words written in 1 Peter 3:1-2 motivated her to love Dad, to teach him God’s truth and to care for him:
“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands; that, if any obey not the word, they also may without the word be won by the conversation of the wives; While they behold your chaste conversation coupled with fear.”
The later years of her life were spent caring for my father, and it was then that I learned what genuine love is. She stayed by his side as he was dying, and was a comfort to him in his suffering. She could not bear to leave him alone in the hospital.
Many of us have seen the very same qualities and actions in our mothers, and the lessons learned thereby will never be erased.
A Sense of Priority
Life during America’s “Great Depression” taught the necessity of setting priorities. There was never a time when anyone asked, “Are we going to Bible study and worship?” It began on Saturday night. We listened to the Grand Old Opry while we shined our shoes and got our best clothes ready to wear the next morning. When she saw that I loved to read, she bought Bible storybooks. We talked about those stories, and she showed me why they were important. If she did not know what a passage meant, she would find out. In that way, she left me a legacy that surpassed money or great possessions. I got my first inkling of the meaning of Matthew 6:33 from her and her example: “Seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.”
She had a minimum education, but she was determined that her sons would be taught the Bible.
A Sense of Urgency
One of the things that accompany growing older is a sense of urgency. As the years passed, she became even more “plain spoken.” That got her into trouble a time or two, but she would say that she “did not have time to beat around the bush.” Concerning spiritual matters, I recall her saying, “I would rather someone later tell me that I had hurt their feelings than for them to say that I did not tell them what they needed to hear.”
Kindness? Yes, but also urgency! Please don’t misunderstand, my mother was not perfect, and she would be the first to admit it. But the thoughts and attitudes she taught me will always be with me.
My mother and yours deserve our praise and respect. When I see the results of my own children’s instruction at the hand of their mother, I am grateful I had the good sense and good fortune to marry her. Mothers—thank God for them!
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“The mother’s heart is the child’s schoolroom.”
“No man is poor who has had a godly mother.”
“My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother.”
“A mother’s love is like God’s love; He loves us not because we are lovable, but because it is His nature to love, and because we are His children.”
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An Object Lesson
You just got to watch an ‘onery young mule!
Having been reared on a farm and assigned my share of the barnyard chores, I absorbed some valuable lessons without ever becoming conscious that I was enrolled in the great school of experience. For you see, I had to take care of a wild bunch of mule colts; and believe me, that can be very educational.
Now a mule can’t help being a mule. He wasn’t granted permission to choose his father, therefore, he is not the product of his own choosing. And regardless of what is done, he will always be a mule. Though not brought forth in “total depravity,” still there are inherent characteristics that must be understood by all who handle him. You have to begin handling him firmly, howbeit very gently and quietly, when he is very young. You have to take great care that the fences are all well mended, that young colts are not exposed to his devilish nature, and you have to do a lot of talking to a mule. But if you will try to make him act more like his mother and see that he associates with good, dependable horses (and not with bad mules), then more than likely he will develop into a good, dependable mule (as mules go), and not be so much like his father. And now, you mothers, if your son seems to take after his dad, and -------aw, just skip it!
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