[Propertalk] Fwd: Sermon Resources for Mother's Day, May 13 - Part 2

[Joe Parrish]

A Mother’s Prayer 
 
If I live in a house of spotless beauty with everything in its place, but have not love, I am a housekeeper--not a homemaker. If I have time for waxing, polishing, and decorative achievements, but have not love, my children learn cleanliness - not godliness. Love leaves the dust in search of a child's laugh. Love smiles at the tiny fingerprints on a newly cleaned window. Love wipes away the tears before it wipes up the spilled milk. Love picks up the child before it picks up the toys. Love is present through the trials. Love reprimands, reproves, and is responsive. Love crawls with the baby, walks with the toddler, runs with the child, then stands aside to let the youth walk into adulthood. Love is the key that opens salvation's message to a child's heart. Before I became a mother I took glory in my house of perfection. Now I glory in God's perfection of my child. 
 
As a mother, there is much I must teach my child, but the greatest of all is love.
 
Author Unknown
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The Most Important Job in the World
 
Dr. Tony Campolo is a well-known and highly-respected, inspirational speaker. Over the last several years, Tony Campolo has spent much of his time traveling around the world on speaking tours.
 
Meanwhile, his wife, Peggy, has chosen to stay home and give herself and all that she has to the "Bringing Up" of their two children, Bart and Lisa. On those rare occasions when Peggy does travel with Tony, she finds herself engaged in conversations with some of the most accomplished, impressive, influential, sophisticated people in the world. 
 
After one such trip, Peggy told Tony that sometimes as she visits with these powerful people… she finds herself feeling intimidated and sometimes even questioning her own self-worth. Tony said to her: "Well, honey, why don't you come up with something you could say when you meet people that will let them know that you strongly value what you do and you feel that it is dramatically, urgent and crucial and important.
 
Well, not long after that, Tony and Peggy Campolo were at a party… when a woman said to Peggy in a rather condescending tone, "Well, my dear, what do you do?" Tony Campolo heard his wife say:
 
"I am nurturing two Homo Sapiens into the dominant values of the Judaeo-Christian tradition in order that they might become instruments for the transformation of the social order into the kind of eschatological utopia God envisioned from the beginning of time." 
 
And the other woman said:
"O, my, I'm just a lawyer."
 
I like that story because it reminds us that there are a lot of important jobs in the world today but not one of them is more important than the job of being a mother. 
 
Tony Campolo adapted by James Moore, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com 
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All Those Preliminaries
 
In an old Peanuts strip, Peppermint Patty and Violet are reflecting on being a grandmother. After Patty declares that she would like to be a grandmother, Violet agrees and says it would be nice because all they have to do is “sit and rock” (not quite the case, is it?) The girls then decide that the trouble with being a grandmother is that first you have to be a wife and then a mother…and Violet sighs, “I know it…it’s all those preliminaries that get me!”
 
Adapted from Peanuts. Original strip run March 13, 1950. Reprinted in 2004 in The Complete Peanuts: The Definitive Collection of Charles M. Schulz’s Comic Strip Masterpiece 1950-1952.
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What’s a Good Mother Like?
 
Judith Viorst once wrote an essay based on interviews she had with children. The subject was “What’s a good mother like?”
 
Viorst reports that the children expected their mother to get angry from time to time. “She has to,” said Ted, “or she’ll faint from holding it in.” 
 
“But it’s best to remember,” said Randy, “that when your mother starts to act real weird, you have to look scared and serious. Don’t giggle. When mommies are mad, they get madder if you giggle.”
 
“My mommy got so mad,” said Megan, “that she yanked the plate off the table and all the mashed potatoes flew into the air.” “And why,” Viorst asked, pretending she’d never heard of such shocking behavior, “why would a mother do a thing like that?” 
 
“Well,” said Megan, “she told my older brother, Mike, he’s 11 years old, to eat the potatoes on his plate and he said ‘Later.’ And then she told him again to eat the potatoes and Mike said ‘Soon.’ And then she told him he had better eat those potatoes right now and he said, ‘In a minute.’ And then she stood up and Mike finally took a bite and told her, ‘How can I eat them? They’re cold!’” 
 
It’s not easy being a Mom. 
 
King Duncan, www.Sermons.com, adapting Judith Viorst, All in the Family
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Unconventional Mother’s Day Gifts
 
This Mother’s Day take a moment to think of all the mothers in the world who are in need. There are millions of women in the world living on less than a dollar a day. There are women in this country who are wondering how they are going to feed or diaper their children from day to day. There are children who need medical attention that their parents may not be able to afford. Anyone who has ever had to worry about such things can deeply sympathize. For those of us who have escaped such worries, we can only imagine the level of instinctive stress that uncertainty can provoke.
 
There are many ways to celebrate Mother’s Day, but here are a few unconventional suggestions that will prove to your own mother that she did a good job raising you. How about dropping off a box of diapers and/or a case of formula to a local food bank or women’s shelter? If you have some baby furniture or clothing that your own children have outgrown, how about donating that stuff to a local charity? Does our local hospital have a fund for children who need care? Are there doctors in our community or city who volunteer in clinics overseas who might need supplies? There are countless ways to help support Moms locally and globally. Let your own Mom know that you were thinking about her and all of the many things she provided for you along the way…and that you did a good deed in honor of her. It will make her proud.
 
www.esermons.com 
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Worse-Case Scenarios
 
If moms are to be faulted, it is because they love their children so much that they get irrational about it. For instance, in the comic strip Calvin and Hobbes, Calvin approaches his mother
Calvin: "Can Hobbes and I go play in the rain, Mom? 
Mom: "No." 
Calvin: "Why not?" 
Mom: "You'll get soaked." 
Calvin: "What's wrong with that?" 
Mom: "You could catch pneumonia, run up a terrible hospital bill, linger a few months, and die." 
Calvin, looking out the window at the rain: "I always forget. If you ask a mom, you get a worse-case scenario." 
Hobbes: "I had no idea these little showers were so dangerous." 
 
Bill Watterson, The Essential Calvin & Hobbes, p. 130.
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The Truest Friend
 
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 (1783-1859)
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Qualities Needed In All Moms
 
A panel of experts was asked to complete some sentences about their moms. What made them experts was the one thing they all had in common. They were all kindergarteners. Even though these are the words of 6 year olds I think the qualities they recognized in their moms are they qualities needed in all moms. Here are the sentences and the answers:
 
My mom is best at: "feeding the dog," "making my bed," "driving," "cleaning," "running," "riding a two-wheeler," "watering the garden."
 
If I had enough money, I'd buy her: "flowers," "a car," "a necklace," "a brand-new fan," "a kitten," "a diamond ring," "a big pack of bubble gum."
 
It makes me feel good inside when Mom says: "I love you," "good job," "dinnertime!" "You look handsome," "I'll buy you something."
 
My mom is as pretty as a -- "butterfly," "ballerina," "mouse," "princess," "my brothers," "goose," "gold ring," "a clean horse."
 
By the way, one of the most memorable comments from the children on Father's Day was: Daddy gets tired out from: "chasing mommy." 
 
Is It Well With Your Family?
 
Brett Blair and Staff, www.eSermons.com.
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Long Over Due
 
Mother's Day was declared an annual National Holiday in 1914 by President Woodrow Wilson. He directed the Congress to designate the second Sunday of May as a special day for public expression of love and reverence for the mothers of America. Since that time there has been a "Mother's Day," and, I must say that even in 1914, it was long overdue. 
 
R.E. Lybrand, CSS Publishing Company
 
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Humor: Mother’s Maintenance Manual
 
Many of us take better care of our cars then we do our mothers and yet we only expect our cars to last 5 or 6 years but we expect our mothers to last for a lifetime.

Maybe we need a maintenance manual for mothers so we would know how to take care of them at least as well as we do our automobiles.

Here are some items that might be included in such a manual.

Engine: A mother's engine is one of the most dependable kinds you can find. She can reach top speed from a prone position at a single cry from a sleeping child. But regular breaks are needed to keep up that peak performance.

Mothers need a hot bath and a nap every 100 miles, a baby-sitter and a night out every 1,000 miles, and a live in baby-sitter with a one week vacation every 10,000 miles.

Battery: Mother's batteries should be recharged regularly. Handmade items, notes, unexpected hugs and kisses, and frequent "I love you's" will do very well for a recharge. 

Carburetor: When a mother's carburetor floods it should be treated immediately with Kleenex and a soft shoulder.

Brakes: See that she uses her brakes to slow down often and come to a full stop occasionally…
 
The rest of this humorous list and many additional illustrations and sermons for Mother’s Day and Easter 6 can be accessed at www.Sermons.com.
 
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