And for this morning, as you know, last week we finished 1 Timothy and my wife said to me, “You’re not going to go on to 2 Timothy, are you? You really need to speak on mothers on Mother’s Day.” She always lobbies for that on Mother’s Day. And I said, “Well I haven’t done that in a few years.” She said, “Yes, seven years ago you spoke on Hannah and I think you ought to do that again this Mother’s Day.” And so I said, “Yes, dear, I’ll do that.” And that is what I’m going to do this morning, and I do it not without…not with any reluctance but joyfully and happily. Seven years ago I did take a look at the profile of a godly mother in the life of Hannah. It’s been a long time and I needed to refresh myself on the whole story, really, to get back into it and I was again excited and thrilled about the prospects of what we can learn from this wonderful account.
Open your Bible to 1 Samuel chapter 1…1 Samuel chapter 1. Jay said in 1914 that Congress identified Mother’s Day as a holiday of some sort for our country, already on a Sunday, not really an official holiday, but having the stamp of government approval by a formal act of the President its observance was to be maintained. About six years before that in 1908, Miss Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia observed the first Mother’s Day on her own, wanting to celebrate the memory of her mother. And believing that other people would like to share her feelings, she began to lobby across the nation, really a nation-wide campaign to get the whole country to be alerted to the need for a Mother’s Day. And finally six years later Congress affirmed that by signature of the President and now it’s nationwide and it’s a tradition, a heritage. It’s reached beyond our nation to other nations of the world as well.
If you go back in our history to the earlier part of this particular century, you can read some very interesting tributes written to mother. If you happen to pick up some of the things that were written around Mother’s Day at various times, you get an insight into how people felt about motherhood in those days.
I came across an interesting one by a man named W. L. Caldwell written in 1928. Listen to what he said about mother. “Well may we pause to pay honor to her who after Jesus Christ is God’s best gift to men, mother. It was she who shared her life with us when as yet our members were unformed, into the valley of the shadow of death she walked that we might have the light of life. In her arms was the garner of our food and the soft couch for our repose. There we nestled in the hour of pain, there was the playground of our infant glee. Those same arms later became our refuge and stronghold. It was she who taught our baby feet to go and lifted us up over the rough places. Her blessed hands plied the needle by day and by night to make our clothes. She put the book under our arm and started us off for school. But best of all, she taught our baby lips to lisp the name of Jesus and told us first the wondrous story of a Savior’s love.”
And then he went on to say, “The pride of America is its mothers. There are wicked mothers like Jezebel of old. There are unnatural mothers who sell their children into sin. There are sin-cursed rum-soaked and abandoned mothers to whom their motherhood is the exposure of their shame. I am glad to believe, however, that there are comparatively few in this class,” end quote.
Few? Few unfaithful mothers? Few sin-stained mothers? Few shameful mothers? Maybe few in 1928 but not so few today. What is the state of motherhood in America? Are mothers still the pride of this land?
I found something else that was written as a tribute to mother in decades past. It goes like this, “The young mother set her foot on the path of life. Is the way long, she asked? And her guide said yes and the way is hard and you will be old before you reach the end of it but the end will be better than the beginning. But the young mother was happy and she would not believe that anything could be better than these years. So she played with her children and gathered flowers for them along the way and bathed with them in the clear streams. And the sun shone on them and life was good and the young mother cried, `Nothing will ever be lovelier than this.’ And then night came and storm and the path was dark and the children shook with fear and cold and the mother drew them close and covered them with her mantle and the children said, `O mother, we’re not afraid for you are near and no harm can come.’ And the mother said, `This is better than the brightness of day for I have taught my children courage.’
“And the morning came and there was a hill ahead and the children climbed and grew weary and the mother was weary. But at all times she said to the children, `A little patience and we’ll be there.’ So the children climbed and when they reached the top they said, `We could have not done it without you, mother.’ And the mother when she lay down that night looked up at the stars and said, `This is a better day than the last for my children have learned strength in the face of hardness. Yesterday I gave them courage, today I have given them strength.’
“And the next day came strange clouds which darkened the earth, clouds of war and hate and evil. And the children groped and stumbled and the mother said, `Look up, lift your eyes to the light.’ And the children looked and saw above the clouds an everlasting glory and it guided them and brought them beyond the darkness. And that night mother talked of Jesus and said, `This is the best day of all for I have shown my children God.’
“And the days went on and the weeks and the months and the years. And the mother grew old and she was little and bent. But the children were tall and strong and walked with faith and courage. And when the way was rough they lifted her for she was as light as a feather. And at last they came to a hill and beyond the hill they could see a shining road and golden gates flung wide. And the mother said, `I have reached the end of my journey and now I know that the end is better than the beginning for my children can walk alone for they walk with God.’ And the children said, `You will always walk with us, mother, even when you’ve gone through the gates to the Savior.’ And they stood and watched her as she went on alone and the gates closed behind her. And they said, `We cannot see her but she is still with us, a mother like ours is more than a memory, she is a living presence.’”
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
