“Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” Exodus 20:12
We are blessed again to be at that time of year when honor is given to Mothers in May and Fathers in June. But hopefully we don’t need a modern holiday on the calendars to remind us to show honor. And hopefully showing honor is not relegated to one day a year. Honor is mid-applied in a lot of ways in our culture. Mothers and Fathers are not the most honored people in our society today. In fact, the modern world argues against the benefits of two parent homes and the benefits of being in a godly family.
Honor today is given to the wealthy, to politicians, to actors, to athletes, to a variety of people. I wonder if we hold mothers in higher esteem than we do the folks who entertain us? A mother’s job is never done in many ways. Children grow up and mature and begin lives of their own and mother’s may have a lessening day to day impact on their children, but the care and love and the ongoing devotion does not wane.
I am sure that I did not appreciate everything my mother sacrificed for my brother and I when I was growing up. She may not even have considered it a sacrifice. That’s just what mother’s do. In a lot of ways we take our parents for granted. May we make sure to NOT let motherhood be a thankless job and as we are able give thanks. Give thanks to God for mothers. Give thanks to your mother if you are able to do so.
I hope children take some time in the next week to honor and appreciate mom. That may take a little planning. In seeking to obey the fifth commandment to honor father and mother we don’t want to break the fourth commandment of remembering the Sabbath day, to keep it holy. So do some shopping ahead of time. Take mom out to that dinner on Saturday or Monday so as to avoid dishonoring God and your mother on Sunday and giving a bad testimony to the world of how Christians spend their Sundays.
“She opens her mouth with wisdom, and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household and does not eat the bread of idleness. Her children rise up and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her: “Many women have done excellently, but you surpass them all.’ Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the LORD is to be praised. Give her of the fruit of her hands, and let her works praise her in the gates.” Proverbs 31:26-31
Children honor your mother. A woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. It is often with mom that children learn of the Savior. Let us praise God for the godly legacy that is left by mother’s who fear the Lord.