Getting Ready for Mother’s Day
During World War II, soldiers and sailors could send V-mail. On April 18, 1945, Lyle W. Hawkins sent this pre-printed message from San Francisco to his mother, Mrs. W. G. Hawkins, in Bellingham, Washington. Notice the Naval censor’s mark of approval in the upper left.
Way to go, Lyle! Your mama must have been happy to receive a letter from her precious boy. During World War II, she must have been relieved, too, especially since his return address is San Francisco and not a remote island in the Pacific.
I sit beside another mama during my Wednesday afternoon painting classes. I heard two sweet mama tidbits from her yesterday. Someone noticed the multi-colored beaded bracelet on her arm. She smiled and said that it was a Mother’s Day present from her four-year-old. This talented painter recently finished a pretty landscape with a bird in the foreground. Now she is working on a second one. She is making a collection of paintings for her mom and dad. She said that she is doing birds because her dad likes birds. Then she added that her mom likes anything she paints because “she’s my mom.”
With Mother’s Day coming on Sunday, today is a good day to think about ways to honor mamas. The Bible is clear that God expects us to honor our mamas. The many verses that teach Christians how to treat everyone give us detailed instruction about how to treat our mamas.
Galatians 5:13 teaches us: “through love serve one another.” As they age, mamas may need a lot of serving. An article I read the other day pointed out that many adult children don’t realize that their parents need them. I can understand that because those adult children have never been their parents’ ages before. Adult children may still think of their parents as vibrant and strong like they were when they were growing up. It is important to remember, too, that parents need serving through love. It’s awfully hard for parents when they feel that they are a burden to their children.
Sometimes people get so busy helping other people that they forget their own parents. Jesus had strong words for the scribes and Pharisees about this:
“Why do you yourselves transgress the commandment of God
for the sake of your tradition?
For God said, ‘Honor your father and mother,’ and,
‘He who speaks evil of father or mother is to be put to death.’
But you say, ‘Whoever says to his father or mother,
“Whatever I have that would help you has been given to God,”
he is not to honor his father or his mother.’
And by this you invalidated the word of God
for the sake of your tradition.
Matthew 15:3b-6
In Luke 6:31, Jesus said: “Treat others the same way you want them to treat you.” As I told the mamas and daddies who came to my “Homeschooling: A Priceless, Once-in-a-Lifetime Opportunity” class at Pigeon Forge last week:
I hear very little about how homeschooling parents ought to treat their own parents, but I want to encourage you to treat your parents the way you want your own children to treat you when they are the age that you are now. You are their example. While you are living the priceless, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to homeschool your children, you are also living the priceless, once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to bless and honor and serve your parents. Both of these opportunities are brief. I encourage you not to miss either one.
This Sunday is the only Mother’s Day of 2023. While it is an opportunity too priceless to miss, so are the daily opportunities to honor our mothers. Paul’s message to the Galatian church in chapter 6 addresses this once-in-a-lifetime idea.
Let us not lose heart in doing good,
for in due time we will reap
if we do not grow weary.
So then, while we have opportunity,
let us do good to all people,
and especially to those who are
of the household of the faith.
Galatians 6:9-10
It is easy to get so tied up in busyness that feels very important at the time that we miss once-in-a-lifetime opportunities. It helps to let this teaching from Philippians sink into our hearts:
. . . with humility of mind regard one another
as more important than yourselves;
do not merely look out
for your own personal interests,
but also for the interests of others.
Philippians 2:3b-4
Among the many wise sayings in Proverbs is this one:
Anxiety in a man’s heart weighs it down,
But a good word makes it glad.
Proverbs 12:25
Every loving mother is longing for a good word from each of her children.
Before my mother had a stroke and moved in with us, she and I talked on the phone every day. One of the things I miss most is not being able to call my mother, especially when I have good news to share. I think “a good word” works both ways. Speaking a good word blesses the person hearing it and also the person saying it.
I once thought that old age was a time when people sat and relaxed and were at ease. The older I get the more I realize that older people have abundant opportunities to have a heart weighed down with anxiety. A good word from a child is one of the best ways to lift those older hearts.
A few years ago, I told you about a visit Ray and I had with our beloved mentors, Doug and Cora Beal Shields (Doug has since gone to our Savior). During our visit, they told us about their commitment to one another regarding phone calls from their adult children. When one of their children called and only one of them was home to answer, the answerer took notes of what their child said so that he or she could share it when they got back together later in the day.
Cora Beal explained why they did this: “Because what they say is gold.”
When our children were little, I cherished cute things they said and sometimes wrote them down so I would remember them. Now, when one of our grandchildren says something cute or profound, I share it with Ray and anyone else I can get to listen — “because what they say is gold.”
That wonder and appreciation for what our children have to say doesn’t stop once they get past being cute and little. We care always because what our children say reveals to us what is happening in their lives. Their words also tell us what is inside their hearts. Because we love, we want to know.
. . . for his mouth speaks from that which fills his heart.
Luke 6:45
When Paul wrote his first letter to the Christians in Thessalonica, he spoke of their longing to see him and his longing to see them. Like all loving parents, Cora Beal and Doug longed to hear from — and to see — their children. Are you longing to see someone? Is someone longing to see you? Every time you make that happen, your children are watching, and you are being a wonderful example to them. Remember that the very best situation is when both are longing to see one another.
But Timothy has just now come to us from you
and has brought good news about your faith and love.
He has told us that you always have pleasant memories of us
and that you long to see us, just as we also long to see you.
1 Thessalonians 3:6