Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Mother's Day Revisited

Apparently, I am not the only one who was thinking that Mother's Day ought to be about GOD! Al Mohler wrote a post, "Why Mother's Day is a Bad Idea!"

In the post, he outlines the origin of Mother's Day, decrying its sentimentalism. He writes,

The Christian vision of motherhood is more about courage and faithfulness than about sentimentalism. The mothers of the Bible are a tough lot. Jochebed put her baby in a floating ark of bulrushes, defying the order of Pharaoh that all Hebrew male children be put to death. Rachel, mother to Joseph and Benjamin, died giving birth to Benjamin. Hannah promised her son to God, and presented Samuel as a young boy for service in the House of the Lord. Mary, the mother of Jesus, risked shame and disgrace to bear the Savior, and to provide all Christians with a model of brave and unflinching obedience. She was there when Jesus Christ was crucified. As Simeon had told her just after the birth of Christ, "Behold this child is appointed for the fall and rising of many in Israel, and for a sign that is opposed (and a sword will pierce through your own soul also), so that thoughts from many hearts may be revealed." [Luke 2:34-35]

The mothers of the Bible are a tough lot, and their courage comes from the same God who said, "Be strong and courageous." He is the One Who gives grace. He is the One Who gives faith.

Al Mohler goes on to say,

Mother's Day is a bad idea because it subverts the reality of faithful mothering and robs faithful mothers of their true glory. Mothers deserving of honor are handed cards and taken to lunch, when songs of praise should instead be offered to the glory of God. Undeserving mothers, who abdicate their true responsibility, are honored just because they are mothers. Children, young and old, who ignore and dishonor their mothers by word and by life throughout the year, assuage their guilt by making a big deal of Mother's Day.

I am not saying that you ought not to do anything on Mother's Day. By all means, honour your mother...but do it every day of the year! And remember to give praise to God for anything your mom does that is good, for it's all about HIM!

2 comments:

  1. Hi Janet!
    I haven't been by here in awhile because my computer is 'sick' (maybe it's a new mutation of the swine flu! LOL). Anyway, I just read through several of the posts I have missed out on and thought it best to leave just one note for you rather than 6!
    I really appreciate Dr. Baucham and have seen several DVDs with him speaking; love your (and Mohler's) thoughts on Mother's day; the poems were inspiring and fun! Hope to visit again, soon.

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  2. Kim, it's great to see you visiting! I'm sorry about your computer problems. Mine was acting up a week or so ago, and I was ever so thankful that my son Daniel is a computer whiz, and was able to figure out the problem.

    Thanks for commenting. It's always nice to see that people actually read this. :D

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