Thanks Mom and Dad!

I know Mother’s Day has just passed and I feel like I failed to acknowledge the day properly. Mothers have one of the most important jobs on the planet and it is actually more than just one job. Moms have to be multitasking organizational specialists with degrees in cries, whines and whimpers. They have to be able to discern the difference between real tears and crocodile tears. Moms become boo-boo experts and can magically make little ouch’s go away with a simple kiss. Moms get to change thousands of diapers and teach their kiddos how to “potty” properly. We walk and run, pick up sticks, throw rocks in the creek, and make mountains of milk shakes. We become macaroni connoisseurs and spaghetti specialist. PBJ’s are the staple food group. We take dirty hands and snotty faces and give big ole kisses and hugs anyway. Then after endless hours of frustrations, prayer, homework, ballgames and dance recitals, driving, dating and heart ache, hormones and hard-headedness, we hand them off to the next one to love and to hold their hand. Those first 18-22 years are all you have to prepare our children for adulthood. Through the passage of time, God’s blessing, and hopeful waiting, we get to be Grandmas! And, that is a whole other story of joy.

God made the first mother and called her Eve. God knew that the role of mother was so important that he gave many commandments for the role of parent and the role of children. Proverbs 1:8-9 says, “Pay close attention, my child, to your father’s wise words and never forget your mother’s instructions. For their insight will bring you success, adorning you with grace-filled thoughts and giving you reins to guide your decisions.” Oh, how I failed in providing grace to my own children at times, but thank God, he carried them through to adulthood. Even the Ten Commandments speak to roles of parents and children.

As mothers or fathers, we are our children’s first and most important teachers. They watch us. They listen to us. They mimic us. They see how we treat each other and how we act and react. When we teach and guide with a Biblical heart and use a Christian mindset without bending to the worldly view, we are “training up a child in the way they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it.” Proverbs 22:6.

Children are a gift from God and are to be treasured. Yes, children need training and teaching and discipline. They need to know what the Bible says and how the Bible can help them with their own problems. It is our role as parent to give them the tools they need to find solutions in God’s word and how to use it to solve them, gain wisdom. And we need to pray over them all the way thru school because this is where the world attacks. Stand firm, keep the word, share the faith. We want to draw our children to church. Thanks Mom, for dragging me to church for all those years. Once on my own, I knew the difference between a Godly Church and one that wasn’t. Mom’s we have to prepare them to do the right thing when we aren’t watching.

Dear Lord,

Thank you for making moms and Dads and giving them all the skills, they need to raise up children in a Godly way. Amen