There is more to being a mom than just having a kid / Mothers Day Sermon 1999
The first celebrations in honor of mothers were held in the spring in ancient Greece. They paid tribute to Rhea, the Mother of the Gods. During the 17th century, England honored mothers on "Mothering Sunday," celebrated on the fourth Sunday of Lent.
In the United States, Julia Ward Howe suggested the idea of Mother's Day in 1872. Howe, who wrote the words to the Battle Hymn of the Republic, saw Mother's Day as being dedicated to peace.
Anna Jarvis of Philadelphia is credited with bringing about the official observance of Mother's Day. Her campaign to establish such a holiday began as a remembrance of her mother, who died in 1905 and who had, in the late 19th century, tried to establish "Mother's Friendship Days" as a way to heal the scars of the Civil War. She felt children often neglected to appreciate their mother enough while the mother was still alive. She hoped Mother's Day would increase respect for parents and strengthen family bonds.
Two years after her mother died, Jarvis held a ceremony in Grafton, W. Va., to honor her. She was so moved by the proceedings that she began a massive campaign to adopt a formal holiday honoring mothers. In 1910, West Virginia became the first state to recognize Mother's Day. A year later, nearly every state officially marked the day. In 1914, President Woodrow Wilson officially proclaimed Mother's Day as a national holiday to be held on the second Sunday of May.
But Jarvis' accomplishment soon turned bitter for her. Enraged by the commercialization of the holiday, she filed a lawsuit to stop a 1923 Mother's Day festival and was even arrested for disturbing the peace at a war mothers' convention where women sold white carnations -- Jarvis' symbol for mothers -- to raise money. "This is not what I intended," Jarvis said. "I wanted it to be a day of sentiment, not profit!"
When she died in 1948, at age 84, Jarvis had become a woman of great ironies. Never a mother herself, her maternal fortune dissipated by her efforts to stop the commercialization of the holiday she had founded, Jarvis told a reporter shortly before her death that she was sorry she had ever started Mother's Day. She spoke these words in a nursing home where every Mother's Day her room had been filled with cards from all over the world.
Today, because and despite Jarvis' efforts, many celebrations of Mother's Days are held throughout the world. Although they do not all fall at the same time, such countries as Denmark, Finland, Italy, Turkey, Australia and Belgium also celebrate Mother's Day on the same day as the United States. It is celebrated all over the world on May 11.
All of us were guided by our mother's voice, wisdom and common sense, even if we didn't think so at the time. Whether we remember what she said fondly, or try to forget these phrases, they are still part of us. Ultimately, without even realizing it, we pass them along to our children, who will in most likelihood pass it on to their children.
Here are some that I remember WELL !!!
Someday your face will freeze like that!
What if everyone jumped off a cliff? Would you do it, too?
You're going to put your eye out with that thing!
How many times do I have to tell you...don't throw things in the house!
Close the door behind you -- were you born in a barn?
Don't put that in your mouth, you don't know where it's been.
Why? Because I said so, that's why?
Don't use that tone with me!
Eat those carrots, they're good for your eyes. Have you ever seen a rabbit wearing
glasses?
Did you flush?
You can be anything you want to, if you just set your mind to it.
There's enough dirt in those ears to grow potatoes!
Be good -- but if you can't be good, be careful.
I don't care what "everyone" is doing, I care what you are doing!
If you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all.
Don't talk with your mouth full!
Always put on clean underwear in the morning, in case you're in an accident.
Sit like a lady!
Don't pick it, it'll get infected.
I'm not just talking to hear myself.
I'm going to give you until the count of three.
Put that down! You don't know where it's been!
Don't cross your eyes or they'll freeze that way.
If you swallow a watermelon seed, a watermelon will grow out your ears.
Men perspire, ladies glisten.
Go to your room and wait until your daddy gets home!
One of these days God will give you kids that will act just like you do if not worse
And last but not least, my personal favorite: I LOVE YOU!
M is for the million things she gave me,
O is for all the times that she spent her life serving others,
T is for the tears she shed to save me,
H is for her heart of purest gold;
E is for her eyes, with love-light shining,
R means right, and right she'll always be,
Put them all together, they spell "MOTHER," A word that means the world
to me.
TRIBUTES TO MOTHERS:
"God could not be everywhere and
therefore he made mothers." -- Jewish proverb
"The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their
mother."--Author Unknown
"Of all the rights of women, the greatest is to be a mother." -- Lin Yutang
"The heart of a mother is a deep abyss at the bottom of which you will always find
forgiveness." -- Honore' de Balzac (1799-1850)
"The mother's heart is the child's schoolroom." -- Henry Ward Beecher
(1813-1887)
"I remember my mother's prayers and they have always followed me. They have clung to
me all my life." -- Abraham Lincoln (1809-1865)
"I looked on child-rearing not only as a work of love and duty but as a profession
that was fully as interesting and challenging as any honorable profession in the world and
one that demanded the best that I could bring it."-- Rose Kennedy
"A mother is the truest friend we have, when trials, heavy and sudden, fall upon us;
when adversity takes the place of prosperity; when friends who rejoice with us in our
sunshine, desert us when troubles thicken around us, still will she cling to us, and
endeavor by her kind precepts and counsels to dissipate the clouds of darkness, and cause
peace to return to our hearts." -- Washington Irving
"My mother was the most beautiful woman I ever saw. All I am I owe to my mother. I
attribute all my success in life to the moral, intellectual and physical education I
received from her." -- George Washington
"In all my efforts to learn to read, my mother shared fully my ambition and
sympathized with me and aided me in every way she could. If I have done anything in life
worth attention, I feel sure that I inherited the disposition from my mother." --
Booker T. Washington
"Woman knows what man has long forgotten, that the ultimate economic and spiritual
unit of any civilization is still the family." -- Clare Boothe Luce
God's keys to being a model wife and
mother:
(Prov 31:1 KJV) The words of king Lemuel, the prophecy
that his mother taught him.
What, my son? and what, the son of my womb? and what,
the son of my vows?
(DON'T DESTROY YOUR LIFE WITH FOOLISH LIVING)
(3) Give not thy strength unto women, nor thy ways to that
which destroyeth kings.
(4 ) It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes
strong drink:
(5) Lest they drink, and forget the law, and pervert the judgment of any of the afflicted.
(6) Give strong drink unto him that is ready to perish, and wine unto those that be of
heavy hearts.
(7) Let him drink, and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.
(Take a stand in your life for what is right and doing right)
(8) Open thy mouth for the dumb in the cause of all such
as are appointed to destruction.
(9) Open thy mouth, judge righteously, and plead the cause of the poor and needy.
(10) Who can find a virtuous woman? for her price is far above rubies.
(11) The heart of her husband doth safely trust in her, so that he shall have no need of
spoil.
(12) She will do him good and not evil all the days of her life.
(Be willing to work hard for your family)
(13) She seeketh wool, and flax, and worketh willingly
with her hands.
(14) She is like the merchants' ships; she bringeth her food from afar.
(She taught by example how to server others)
(15) She riseth also while it is yet night, and giveth
meat to her household, and a portion to her maidens.
(She invested carefully in her family)
(16) She considereth a field, and buyeth it: with the
fruit of her hands she planteth a vineyard.
(17) She girdeth her loins with strength, and strengtheneth her arms.
(18) She perceiveth that her merchandise is good: her candle goeth not out by night.
(19) She layeth her hands to the spindle, and her hands hold the distaff.
(20) She stretcheth out her hand to the poor; yea, she reacheth forth her hands to the
needy.
(She had peace about her family because of her investments in caring for them)
(21) She is not afraid of the snow for her household: for
all her household are clothed with scarlet.
(She dressed her family as Kings & Queens of royalty)
(22) She maketh herself coverings of tapestry; her
clothing is silk and purple.
(23) Her husband is known in the gates, when he sitteth among the elders of the land.
(24) She maketh fine linen, and selleth it; and delivereth girdles unto the merchant.
(Her strength and honor was not from the world, but from within but could be seen
by all from without)
(25) Strength and honour are her clothing; and she shall
rejoice in time to come.
(26) She openeth her mouth with wisdom; and in her tongue is the law of kindness.
(27) She looketh well to the ways of her household, and eateth not the bread of idleness.
(She is praised by her family for the person who she is - )
(28) Her children arise up, and call her
blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.
(29) Many daughters have done virtuously, but thou excellest them all.
(30) Favour is deceitful, and beauty is vain: but a woman that feareth the LORD, she shall
be praised.
(31) Give her of the fruit of her hands; and let her own works praise her in the gates.
It takes a lot more than just a wedding
ring to be a wife:
It takes a lot more to being a mother than just having a child:
Give Illustration. Of my all the things my mom did for us kids: whooped all of us before going to the store, Sowed our costumes for school and holidays, baked for the whole neighborhood, etc..
Words of wisdom for every wife and mother:
Observe your life style carefully - make sure you life
reflects a Christ like image
Do not do foolish things - ask God for wisdom in your plans, choices, conversation,
thoughts,
Make the best of every opportunity -our days are evil enough, make the best of each day
Seek to understand God's will for you life - then walk it
Don't permit your home to be run by worldly standards
Be filled with the Holy Spirit
Learn to control the atmosphere in which you live with your family or it will control you
Worship God in your HOME
Practice mutual submission to one another
Spend time with your family and learn to listen to them.
Don't take for granted the family that God has given to you.
Be a blessing not a burden.
Teach you children the Word of God
WIN YOUR FAMILY TO CHRIST NO MATTER WHAT THE COST.
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