This week husbands, sons
and daughters will elbow their way to the greeting card displays in search of
the perfect card to celebrate Mothers Day. Florists will put on extra
staff to handle the demand. Restaurants brace for business.
Countries around the
world set aside a special day for mothers. It is celebrated on the second
Sunday in May in the U.S. Canada, New Zealand, Australia, India, Brazil,
Germany, Ethiopia and the Philippines. Woodrow Wilson proclaimed Mothers Day an
official holiday starting on May 8, 1914. Still other nations honor mothers on
different dates.
Regardless of our
nationality, ethnicity or gender, we were each carried in our mother’s womb,
given birth through her labor and, in almost all cases, nursed and nourished to
life by her care.
No office and no position
wields greater power and influence over the future of humanity than the
influence of a mother. The memories and lessons given in infancy at a
mother’s hand surpass every other classroom and instruction. The faith of
a mother inspires and instructs more effectively than any pulpit or pen.
We see it in history, and
we see it in the Bible.
In a log cabin in
Kentucky, Nancy Hanks Lincoln recognized the early gifts in her child.
She not only taught him to read, but instructed him in the principles that
would shape his life. Without Nancy, and Sarah, who became Lincoln’s step
mother after Nancy died, it is unlikely that Abraham Lincoln would have ever
surfaced to lead our nation in its greatest hour of crisis.
If it were not for Moses’
mother, the world would have never known the great law-giver who led Israel
from captivity and gave us the Ten Commandments. It was she who hid him
in the reeds at the river to save his infant life and it was she who cared for
him in Pharaoh’s court.
How many mothers have
petitioned God for the birth of a child, as Hannah prayed in the presence of
Eli, the prophet? Without her prayer, Samuel would not have been born,
and would not have been present to anoint David, the king of Israel.
In the fullness of time,
in an obscure Galilean village, another young woman lifted up her eyes to
heaven and sang, “My soul exalts the Lord, and my spirit has rejoiced in God my
Savior. For He has had regard for the humble state of His handmaiden; for
behold, from this time on all generations will count me blessed. For He that is
mighty has done to me great things, and holy is His name.” (Luke
1:46-49). Without Mary we would never have known Jesus, and the world
would remain lost in its sins without a Savior.
Paul referred to the
importance of a mother’s faith when he wrote to his young protégé, Timothy:
“For I am mindful of the sincere faith within you, which first dwelt in your
grandmother Lois and your mother Eunice, and I am sure that it is in
you as well.” (2 Timothy 1:5).
This Mother’s Day we
honor all mothers who have shaped us and made a better world.
