Tonight, the ladies of our church will be getting together to have a baby shower for a young woman expecting her second child! I love baby showers! (Big surprise huh?!)
I’m giving a short devotional that I hope will be an encouragement to the new mother, and I thought I’d share it here. Please be patient with some grammatical errors, as these are simply notes and not a complete, thought-out essay!
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First some funnies: These questions were asked of elementary-aged children.
How did God make mothers?
- “He used dirt, just like for the rest of us.”
- “Magic plus super powers and a lot of stirring.”
- “God made my Mom just the same like he made me. He just used bigger parts.”
What ingredients are mothers made of?
- “God makes mothers out of clouds, angel hair and everything nice in the world and one dab of mean.”
- “They had to get their start from men's bones. Then they mostly use string. I think.”
Why did God give you your mother and not some other Mom?
- “God knew she likes me a lot more than other people's moms like me.”
What kind of little girl was your Mom?
- “I don't know because I wasn't there, but my guess would be pretty bossy.”
- “They say she used to be nice.”
What's the difference between moms and dads?
- “Dads are taller and stronger, but moms have all the real power 'cause that's who you got to ask if you want to sleep over at your friend's.”
What does your Mom do in her spare time?
- “Mothers don't do spare time.”
- “To hear her tell it, she pays bills all day long.”
What would it take to make your Mom perfect?
- “On the inside she's already perfect. Outside, I think some kind of plastic surgery.”
- “Diet. You know, her hair. I'd diet, maybe blue.”
If you could change one thing about your Mom, what would it be?
- “She has this weird thing about me keeping my room clean. I'd get rid of that.”
- “I'd make my Mom smarter. Then she would know it was my sister who did it and not me.”
A Mother’s Influence
Children are very observant! And sometimes we don’t realize what they are observing until we see it or hear it come out of their mouth! Oops!
As parents, we are the strongest influence in our child’s life. God gives parents the primary responsibility for the raising of a child!
Dueteronomy 6:5-7
And thou shalt love the LORD thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might. And these words, which I command thee this day, shall be in thine heart: And thou shalt teach them diligently unto thy children, and shalt talk of them when thou sittest in thine house, and when thou walkest by the way, and when thou liest down, and when thou risest up.
(Deuteronomy 6:5-7)
Our children will have many people that will influence them over their lifetimes. Friends, Sunday School teachers, television, and so on, but we the parents, and more specifically tonight, the mothers, will wield a much stronger influence than any of these.
We can influence our child for good, but we can also use our influence for the bad. In Scripture we have examples of both.
Let’s start with the bad: 2 Chr. 22:2-3
Forty and two years old was Ahaziah when he began to reign, and he reigned one year in Jerusalem. His mother's name also was Athaliah the daughter of Omri. He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
(2 Chronicles 22:2-3)
Throughout the history of Israel’s and Judah’s kings, the mothers are rarely mentioned. But here we are told of King Ahaziah’s mother Athaliah. The Bible says she counseled him to do wickedly! We can read more about that in the chapter and in 2 Kings, and we find that Athaliah eventually kills the rest of the household to set herself up as queen, but the point here is that Athaliah, because of her own ambitions and priorities, was a wicked influence on her son.
I certainly hope that you (mother) will never counsel your children to do wickedly, but let Athaliah serve as a reminder to us that we can let our own plans and desires get in the way of the godly influence we are supposed to be. Watch your priorities!
Now the good: 2 Tim 1:5
When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; and I am persuaded that in thee also.
(2 Timothy 1:5)
Timothy’s mother Eunice (and grandmother) had a profound effect on Timothy’s life and future service! As best we can tell Timothy’s father was a Greek and unsaved, and therefore had very little positive influence on Timothy’s spiritual development, yet we read in 2 Tim 3:15 that Timothy knew the Scriptures from the time he was a child! And because of that, he was saved and followed God his whole life. He became very dear to the Apostle Paul.
(Mother), as you prepare to have your 2nd child, remember that you will wield an incredible power! You will influence your children, make no mistake about that! But what kind of influence will you have? What will you teach them?
I strongly believe that parents are parents from Day 1, and parents are teachers from Day 1. Granted, in those early days, you are simply teaching them to eat and sleep, but you are teaching nonetheless. But as our children grow, we have an incredible responsibility to teach them to “love the Lord thy God with all thine heart, with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.”
So (mother), I encourage you tonight to renew that commitment within you to teach your children to love the Lord, and use your influence in a godly way! I know the ladies here will rally around you to help you in that journey! We love you, we love (first child), and we love this new little one. So ladies will you please join me in prayer as we ask the Lord’s blessing on (mother), her family, and the new baby?
