Happy
Mother’s Day
Dr. Larry Thorson
Ruth
Happy Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day, I must admit, was started by a
Methodist named Anna Jarvis who spent forty years developing the concept. Her
drive to create the holiday reached fulfillment in 1914 with a presidential
proclamation by Woodrow Wilson, whom I might add was a Presbyterian.
Anna had two fears regarding this holiday. One fear was that her effort to honor mothers
would be exploited by what was then known as "the floriculture
industry." She was also afraid that Mother's Day would become the financial
backbone of the greeting card industry.[2] Hmm, sometimes fears are
valid.
Before I get into my message I want to read
“Yahoo’s Top Five Worst Mother’s Day Gifts” so I can say that I warned
you.
5. "Jillian Michaels – 30-Day Shred"
DVD
You may have heard mom talking about wanting to become a
"Shred Head," but it's probably not wise for you to buy her the
"Jillian Michaels – 30-Day Shred" DVD. Instead of viewing it as a way
to kick start a new fitness plan, she may see it as hint that you're not happy
with her body. Instead, get her a copy of her favorite movie that you'll
watch together. Better yet? Hire a babysitter (if she's a mom of young kids)
and take her to the movies, and let her pick the flick.
4. A session (or ten) with a personal trainer
Ouch. That's what mom will be thinking if you give her a session
with a personal trainer––and not because of the post-workout pain. We repeat:
Stay away from any gift that implies the mother in your life needs to exercise.
3. A new apron
Does mom really need a reminder of how much time she spends
cleaning the house? Instead, send her away to a spa for the morning while you
do the cleaning up!
2. Clothes in the wrong size
Even if you have a smooth sense of style, getting mom clothes in
the wrong size has always been a huge gift-giving no-no. Just sneak a peek at
the tags on her clothes for sizes and make sure to go to the same store as the
tags you looked at!
1. Nothing
Dads, this message is for you. Just because, you know, she's not your mom (she's only helping you raise your beautiful kids), doesn't
mean you should forget her on this special day. Have a heart and show your lady
how much you adore her and how you appreciate the amazing job she's doing as a
mom.
I hope that advice doesn’t help you one bit
because you’ve gotten the day appropriately under control. For Mothers' Day this year I want to focus on
someone who made her mark in history more as a mother-in-law than as a mother. Mother-in-law’s don’t get near the respect and
honor as mothers do. Think about it, one
doesn’t have to look far to find mother-in-law jokes. For example you’ve probably heard the classic
definition of mixed emotions: watching your mother-in-law drive off a cliff in
your new Rolls Royce. I even heard of one preacher who exhorted his
congregation at offering time to "give as if you're giving to send your
mother-in- law back home." I
fortunately have a very sweet mother-in-law whom I love dearly. Maybe she’s rare but I don’t think so. Being a mother-in-law is part of being a
mother and just because some don’t do it very well shouldn’t give all the other
mother-in-law’s a bad reputation.
We’re going to look at a mother-in-law named Naomi
as her story is told in the book of Ruth.
Now things were hard back then, even harder than today. A famine had
struck the
That’s what
Naomi and her husband Elimilech and their two sons, Mahlon and Chilion did. They moved to
The move went well and at first it looked like a
good decision but then her husband died suddenly. Who would have thought? Can you imagine what a blow that was to
Naomi? It would be bad enough left a widow with two young sons to raise, but
being left in a foreign land with no relatives to provide support, no long-time
friends, and no shoulders to cry on.
But Naomi's managed in spite of it all. She raised
those two boys; somehow found ways to support them, and brought them into manhood
as best she could.
When the boys were finally grown, they took wives
for themselves – Orpah and Ruth. They
were fine women but they were Moabites and Naomi would have known how much
intermarriage was frowned upon in her homeland. It so frowned upon that during
some periods of Israelite history, it was even prohibited by law to intermarry.
So here were her two Jewish sons marrying non-Jewish girls. But nowhere do we
read anything about Naomi letting her inner feelings become known about those
girls being Moabites. As far as Orpah and Ruth were concerned, they were now as
much a part of her family as if they had been born into it. That’s important to remember. Naomi accepted them...and they knew it.
My future mother-in-law was not pleased at all that
her 22 year old daughter was engaged to a guy with
But tragedy struck Naomi again. This time both of her sons, died. Some would say it was God’s curse on them for
marrying Moabite women but not Naomi.
When tragedy strikes like that, not once but three
times if you count losing her husband, it causes one to think about the past,
if only to keep from thinking about how rotten the current times are. For
Naomi, those thoughts turned to home Israel...Bethlehem...memories of when she
was first married...memories of two little boys playing in the fields outside
of town. Those memories were like a siren song in her grief calling
"Naomi, Naomi...come home...come home." And so, she resolved to go
back. When word came that the famine in
Before they had gotten too far, Naomi began to
think. "This isn’t fair.” “These girls shouldn’t have to be uprooted from their
home just because I want to go back to mine." So she told them to turn back.
Naomi as a good mother/mother-in-law believed in
those two young women. She had gotten to know them just as if they had been her
own flesh and blood. She knew that they had a lot to offer the young men who
might marry them. She had seen them offer a lot to her own sons, especially at
the time of death. She knew these girls would be all right.
When the daughters-in-law protested leaving her
she emphatically said “Go home.” “You will be better off." You know that had to have been a painful thing
for Naomi to say. She had come to love them and no one wants to be separated
from those they love. But Naomi was well aware that, in her culture, the life
of a woman was totally dependent upon the man. A widow could not simply decide
to pick up the pieces of a broken life, go out, get a job, and start all over
again. The only way life could really begin again was in the home of a new
husband. As Moabites they could never
find new husbands. Naomi was concerned
for them, so she was willing to sacrifice her own happiness for theirs. Another good mother trait.
One of the daughter-in-laws did decide to turn
back and we never hear of her again. The
other one, Ruth, stayed with Naomi and we have a book of the Bible named after
her. More importantly Ruth knew that Naomi
believed in her. She knew that Naomi was
concerned about her. That kind of relationship between two people is rare.
What Ruth said to Naomi is one of the most beautiful
statements of loyalty that has ever been uttered. Her statement has endured through more than
3,000 years as an expression of what genuine relationship is all about. Even to
our day, what Ruth said has expressed a bond of union so close that it is even
repeated in wedding ceremonies to reflect undying devotion.
In Ruth 1:16 we read “But Ruth replied, "Don't urge me to leave you
or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will
stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.”
What could have prompted such a response from Ruth?
Only that rare combination of loving qualities that supposedly are so rare in
an in-law... she was accepted, she was believed in and she felt Naomi’s
concern. Acceptance, belief and concern:
three things that a good mother does for her children. That’s also three things a good mother does
for the ones her children love. Naomi
was that kind of mother for her sons and for their widows.
That’s what God does with us. God accepts us just as we are and offers us the
free gift of eternal life in his son Jesus Christ. God believes in us even when we don’t believe
in ourselves. God never gives up on
us. God is always concerned for us, when
we’re awake and when we’re asleep.
Wherever we are God is always thinking about us.
Maybe you had or have a mother like Naomi who loved
you unconditionally, accepts you and is concerned for you. For that woman today, give thanks. If you can’t be with her honor her by doing
something nice for someone else’s mother.
Maybe you never had a mother who cared about you
but you had another woman who did, an aunt, a neighbor, maybe a
mother-in-law. In my last church our
music director was single and never had children of her own but she was in
essence a mother to the 70 youth who sang in our youth choir every year. For women like that today, give thanks.
Maybe you never experienced the love of a mother
in your life. Let God be that mother in
your life. God loves you so much, he
accepts you, believes in you and is concerned for you. Open your heart and accept him into your
life.
Jesus died on the cross and was resurrected to
eternal life because his father believed in you and thought you were worth
saving. Give your heart to Jesus and
have a happy Mother’s Day.
Accepting, believing and being concerned: traits
of a good mother regardless of your gender.
Go back into your world and make a mother’s difference in someone’s
life. Happy Mother’s Day.