Mother!

It does seem to be “not enough” merely to have a “day” for mothers. Oh, I am not trying to change the nation’s calendar, but should it not be “Mother’s Month” instead of “Mother’s Day”? It all goes back to our own mother, through whom we came into this world. What she was like is a major factor in who we are and in our view of motherhood, and even life today.

I have known children whose mothers were not the paragon of virtue they should have been, though expected to be “everything” to a child. My time as a teacher in what was then called “Junior High School” brought me to reality. I discovered that not all mothers were like mine, that some did not have the best interests of their children at heart. Instead, those were the exception, and most did not put the best interests of their children ahead of their own. Most of us do what I am doing, using my mother as the means of defining “mother” and motherhood. Was she perfect? Of course not, but she was who she needed to be for her children.

There is another consideration necessary to any discussion of mothers, and that is to males and their choice of the mother of their future children. Finding a wife who can also be the virtuous, loving mother of our own children may not be a major consideration of some young men. “Can she be a real mother to our children?” should be a question considered early in a courtship for young men seeking a wife. Perhaps the following can be a starting place in a young man’s quest.

Magician: Yes, a mother oftentimes must be a magician to make a delicious meal out of a pound of hamburger and one or two other ingredients. It may be that money is scarce, but she does what she can because she wants her family to be fed with things they enjoy—and that are good for them.

Old School: Not “old-fashioned,” but favoring the ways that are tried and true. Mothers like new things as others do, but “old school” mothers will look for the best moral codes, the best choices for her children; the biblical ways to serve God and others. She will go back to God’s word for her views regarding today’s problems and their reasonable solutions (Jer. 6:16).

Thankful: No, she may not have all the things she wants, but she is thankful to God and her family that she has what she needs to care for her family and herself. She is able to make do with what she has and does not pine away about things she does not have (Heb. 13:5).

Homemaker: There are many houses in every town, but she wants her house to be a real home, and she does what it takes to make it a real home. It is a home where the family loves one another, where the children respect their parents and where the children are taught how to live in a world created by the God they find in their daily Bible studies and Bible reading.

Energetic: My mother was always up before I was, and usually still up when I went to bed. She could get more done with less time than anyone I ever knew. To my surprise, I found that my wife can do the same. There are things that need to be done every day, and all too often she does most of them. That energy comes from her love for family and her home.

Ready: No one can always have their way in the home or in any other area of life. It may be true that mother will be the one who is ready to do what it takes to make a family what it ought to be, what it must be. Needing household things that are necessary to keep the home as it should be kept, she often has to do without some of those things. She is ready to do whatever she must do to keep that home in the ways of the Lord, and in the way of cleanliness and of pleasant surroundings. Often—far too often—it is mother who does without when the going gets tough. It is not enough to say that and praise her for it, but there must be a significant effort for equality in a home.

Solomon had much to say about mothers, and his words are worthy of our remembering:

A wise son maketh a glad father: but a foolish son is the heaviness of his mother. [Prov. 10:1]

My son, hear the instruction of thy father, and forsake not the law of thy mother. [Prov. 1:8]

Thank you to mothers everywhere, especially to those here and those “back home.”

Carl B. Garner