Sermon Tone Analysis

\\ /29 //“Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”

30 Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.

31 Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.

Proverbs 31:29-31 (NIV)*[1]*/

 

I have never met a mother who believes that they have mastered the task of “mothering”.

Even when the kids have turned out “okay”, whatever that means, they look back and wish that they had done more of this, less of that or none of something else.

It is not a science, I’m not sure if it’s a skill.

It is perhaps instinctive?

And then everything that you have figured out gets messed up with each succeeding child.

It is an experience sometimes exhilarating, sometimes terrifying, sometimes elating, sometimes devastating that passes all too quickly.

Most of us have “flash” memory of our children and wonder how in the world it could have raced past us so quickly.

We have flash backs, flash pictures and mental images that flash across our minds that we can’t capture.

If a mother sees a desirable response from her children, she should praise God and avoid the natural tendency to take credit and if the response is short of her expectations she should never beat herself up.

Children who are seemingly parented to perfection stray for a variety of reasons and some of the seemingly well adjusted adults in our society come from extremely difficult upbringings and disadvantaged or even abused situations.

I believe with all my heart that God is the strongest ally that parents can have when it comes to his “providential parenting”.

No human being can run away from the voice of God where He cannot be heard or create enough noise and distraction to drown him out.

He will be heard when we are out of breath from running or hoarse from noise making and when the party is over, He is there waiting in the stillness.

You can’t escape God.

You came from Him, you’ll return to Him and you’ll answer to Him.

 

Often in times like this we rightfully honor our mothers.

I feel dwarfed by my wife when I watch the way that she juggles her responsibilities and manages her work outside and inside the home.

She is “Maxi-Mom” in my eyes.

On Mother’s day we try to say “thanks” and to give them accolades.

On Father’s Day we often beat them up.

We do not use the same “gentle” approach that we do with our Moms.

This year for both Fathers’ day and Mothers’ Day, I want to seek a balance somewhere between honor and challenge.

Today I want our mothers to feel every special emotion that there is to be felt.

We offer our sympathy to those who still mourn their mother’s passing.

That pain can be fresh after years of absence.

We acknowledge the fact that some have few if any pleasant memories of a devoted, loving mother.

There may be those here today who are estranged from their moms.

I hope there is the possibility or reconciliation for those cases and trust that you will be receptive to His sweet Spirit today.

There are those today who are childless by chance and choice – somehow, I believe that there is the  noble heart of a mother there and we pray that you can be stirred and challenged to see God unfold His beautiful plan for you.

His plan embraced will bring you His best because it is Plan A not Plan B.  We have single folk here today who smart from divorce.

You shoulder the responsibility with no back up – no reinforcements.

It’s overwhelming by times but you are making it day to day, trusting and hoping like crazy that there is enough gas in the tank to do your job so well that your kids are unaffected by the absence of a father.

I think that this is where my heart lies primarily today because I watched my own mother sail those turbulent waters.

It took everything that she had.

Thanks Mom.

And we have our young unmarried women.

Bless your mothers today and one day all too soon you will be where they are trying before God to find His way and His help.

Too all of you today we love you, we honor you, we thank God for you.

And now for a little challenge, moms, all of you want to be better.

As long as you are alive you will have this role, this capacity, this opportunity to impact others in a Maxi-Mom way.

You want to do it to the best of your ability and how can that be done?

Some are already seeking out the different approaches and I want to look at a couple of those strategies and suggest a couple options as well.

*/1.

/**You could aspire to be Mom P.R.O.*

This is not the position of a mercenary and I don’t think there are any true experts.

Mom P.R.O. is the mother who has a Personal Relationship with Oprah.

In other words you seek any wisdom that you can possibly find and Oprah packages hers a little better than some others so you rely on the things that you can glean from Oprah and other public and published gurus.

There are good insights to be gained there for sure but this world can be a conflicting collection of differing perspectives that can leave a conscientious mother more confused when the dust on the TV screen has settled.

You see, Oprah doesn’t live in your home and she doesn’t know your child.

/ Somebody said it takes about six weeks to get back to normal after you've had a baby./

/Somebody doesn't know that once you're a mother, normal is history.

\\ \\ Somebody said you learn how to be a mother by instinct.

\\ Somebody never took a three-year-old shopping.

\\ \\ Somebody said being a mother is boring.

\\ Somebody never rode in a car driven by a teenager with a driver's permit.

\\ \\ Somebody said if you're a "good" mother, your child will "turn out good." \\ Somebody thinks a child comes with directions and a guarantee.

\\ \\ Somebody said "good" mothers never raise their voices.

\\ Somebody never came out the back door just in time to see her child hit a golf ball through the neighbor's kitchen window.

\\ \\ Somebody said you don't need an education to be a mother.

\\ Somebody never helped a fourth grader with his math.

\\ \\ Somebody said you can't love the fifth child as much as you love the first.

\\ Somebody doesn't have more than one child.

\\ \\ Somebody said a mother can find all the answers to her child-rearing questions in the books.

\\ Somebody never had a child stuff beans up his nose.

\\ \\ Somebody said the hardest part of being a mother is labor and delivery.

\\ Somebody never watched her "baby" get on the bus for the first day of kindergarten.

\\ \\ Somebody said a mother can do her job with her eyes closed and one hand tied behind her back.

\\ Somebody never organized seven giggling Girl Scouts to sell cookies.

\\ \\ Somebody said a mother can stop worrying after her child gets married \\ Somebody doesn't know that marriage adds a new son or daughter-in-law to a mother's heartstrings.

\\ \\ Somebody said a mother's job is done when her last child leaves home \\ Somebody never had grandchildren.

\\ \\ Somebody said your mother knows you love her, so you don't need to tell her.

\\ Somebody isn't a mother./

Conclusion: God has chosen you as the mother of your children and you are the resident expert.

No one else can tell you how to raise your children until they have had that challenge and responsibility themselves.

Don’t try to be Mom P.R.O..

 

*/2.

/**You may already be Mom S.T.D**..*  This does not necessarily mean Mom Standard.

It is common to many mothers.

I don’t think that I would recommend that a lady aspire to be this.

It means Mom Scared To Death.

Do you remember looking into the eyes of your child for the first time and realizing that you were the primary caregiver for this eternal soul packaged in flesh and bone?

Their physical, emotional, social, intellectual, spiritual well-being was entrusted to you.

No wonder mothers experience post partum depression.

And you thought changing diapers and sleep deprivation was bad.

It never gets easier, the challenges just become different.

I know grandmothers here today who experience heartache for their kids and grand kids that is worse than anything that they knew when they were brand new parents.

Many mothers parent in fear.

Parenting out of fear often creates the very things we wish to avoid.

They worry about many things that never happen.

As long as you live and love you will worry and spend anxious moments and unimaginable amounts of emotional energy hoping and praying the best for your kids.

I don’t know how to take that away from moms.

But what you can do mothers, is to avoid acting out of your fears, parenting out of your fears, trying to control things that are beyond your ability to control.

You will either raise fearful children or rebellious children.

I believe that it is preferable and possible to raise faith-filled children.

Avoid assuming the attributes of God. 

ü   */Momniscience/* – God knows everything about us.

He is the only one who can handle such knowledge.

Don’t think that you know everything about your kids.