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The Perfect, Biblical Mom
Strength and dignity are her clothing and she smiles at the future. She opens her mouth in wisdom and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue. She looks well to the ways of her household, and does not eat the bread of idleness.
Her children rise up and bless her; her husband also, and he praises her, saying, “Many daughters have done nobly, but you excel them all.” Charm is deceitful and beauty is vain, but a woman who fears the Lord she shall be praised. (Proverbs 31:25-30)
The First Mother's Day
Mother’s day actually started out as a memorial ceremony put on by Anna Jarvis to honor her mother, who had died some three years prior. This took place on May 10, 1908. Six years later, President Woodrow Wilson proclaimed May 9, 1914 the first official Mother’s Day because “mothers need to be celebrated” he proclaimed.
This celebration of mothers far and wide continues today. Mother’s of all shapes and sizes and bits and pieces are recognized. I say it this way because a mother can be any woman that takes on the role of nurturing another. Women have mentored young individuals and thus become a mother figure in their life.
As Mother’s day is dedicated first and foremost to the special lady that gave birth to us, we also recognize other special ladies God has placed in each of our lives.
Daughters
Sisters
Mothers-In-Law
and Grandmas
How do you celebrate mom?
Childhood traditions
It has been a long standing tradition to make breakfast in bed for your mom. Carefully balancing the tray of under cooked pancakes swimming in syrup, over cooked wrinkly sausage links, watered down coffee and a filled to the rim glass of orange juice. Somehow, nothing ever spilled. Yea kids! Of course no tray of home made breakfast would be complete without the over sized vase containing a single flower and a home made card.
I’m gonna take a wild guess and bet the Mary, Jesus’s mother, did not get breakfast in bed. Instead, she got a parade of strangers coming into her place of residence to admire her child. And yet, she treasured up all these things, pondering them in her heart. (Luke 2:19)
Year after year, we moms are given gifts from our kids that are truly from their heart. And we, with love and appreciation, eat those still doughy pancakes, over cooked sausage, drink that watered down and by now cold coffee and get that filled to the rim glass of orange juice to our lips without losing a drop.
And we do it because we love our children so much. The way their eyes widen and light up as they watch us enjoy their first attempt at cooking, is present enough. It’s priceless, and we treasure these things in our hearts too.
Grown up changes
There does comes a point when breakfast in bed is no longer cute and adorable. However, my teenage daughter did make me chocolate chip/strawberry pancakes with honey for breakfast one year. Thankfully she preferred to served it at the table and not in bed. But taking mom out to breakfast has become the norm. Now don’t get us wrong kids, we love that just as much as being fed in bed. Just spending time with our family warms our hearts.
Sometimes though, kids have to get creative and band together. Coming up with new, creative, grown up Mother’s day celebration ideas has taken the holiday by storm. I personally have had the privilege of having the day to myself, I have been taken to the local “store” and instructed to pick out anything I wanted. I have been taken to a fancy brunch, and I have also prepared my own breakfast and dinner. Since I am the only one who truly knows how to cook my favorite food, mashed potatoes, I prepare them myself.
For this years’ Mother’s Day, our church banned together and organized an afternoon Tea for our ladies and a guest. It was such a blessing the family members that attended.
We spent the afternoon getting to know one another using M&M’s, we shared lunch, a devotion and door prizes.
Getting to know you via M&M's
We started out getting to know one another. Each table was fitted with a bowl full of M&M’s and cards to match the candy colors. Each lady answered the question on the card that matched the M&M color she picked. Luckily we did not run out of the candies, even with everyone snacking on them.
Some color coated questions:
Yellow: what movie could you watch over and over again?
Blue: if you had $100, would you spend it or save it? If spend, what would you buy?
Orange: what is your morning ritual?
Brown: if you could trade places with a person from the Bible, who would it be?
Green: if you could have a super power, what would it be?
Red: what childhood nickname did you have? and do you still have it?
We even had some teen specific color coated questions.
Yellow: how many social media accounts/apps do you have?
Blue: do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
Orange: on your phone, who has the longest text history?
Brown: what’s the first thing you notice about a guy?
Green: if you could eat the same food every day, what would it be?
Red: what is something you learned this week that you did not know before?
There was a lot of deep thought, and laughter. No Mother’s Day questionnaire would be complete without a “mom” question. “What is a special memory you have of you and your mom?”
I had participated in a get to know you kind of setting years ago, and thought that was a much better way to start conversations and get the party started. So I consulted with the internet and found a huge supply of conversation starters. I found a list from Gifts.com/blog, which was very helpful. It actually got me thinking on my own and I was able to come up with most of the questions myself. But thank you to Gifts.com/blog for your inspiration, you helped get that ball rolling.
The Grub, The Game and The Give away
We all pitched in to provide our Mother’s Day guests with an assortment of “Tea” types of food. We served chicken salad with croissants and gluten free bread to make a sandwich if desired. For sides, we offered green salad, veggie tray, cheese and crackers, fizzy soda jello squares, fruit yogurt salad. And to top it all off, a chocolate cake (a must for any occasion) and walnut cake, which was gluten free and delicious.
We did have one actual game. Guess how many buttons are in the jar! Fairly common game, but always a lot of laughs with the range of guesses. We ranged from 250 to 987 and if memory serves, there were 612 buttons in the jar. And no event is complete without a raffle ticket and door prizes.
Some of our lucky raffle ticket winners.
Door prize choice: a gift bag or the adorable table center pieces.
Those that chose a gift bag, received a travel size lotion, among a few other “lady” items.
When you try out a new lotion, you always have to smell your hands. Unfortunately, not always is the smell appealing.
One lucky raffle ticket winner received this dainty flower vase. Evidently it was missing something important. I don’t blame you, chocolate is a must! Fill ‘er up!
A Mother's Day Devotion
As the food, fun and laughter started to wind down, sharing a mother’s day devotion seemed a fitting end to a wonderful day. I received the privilege of sharing this devotion.
Now to be perfectly honest, when I was “voluntold” to present the devotion, as I so jokingly refer to it, I struggled with what to speak on. I grumbled. But God, in His infinite wisdom and power, dropped in my lap what He wanted the ladies to hear that day. As I sat back in my office chair, glancing up at my bookshelf, I noticed my pink, Women’s Devotional Bible. It was almost like a spotlight was shining on it. So I grabbed it. Knowing it had a subject index in the back, I headed there to search the topics discussed in this bible. I got to the “B’s” and stopped. I knew what the devotion was going to be. Thank you Lord, and forgive me for grumbling.
Balance
We women need it and yet somehow it’s second nature to us. Life is a balancing act but only when we continually lean on the unshakable grace of God, can we balance it.
You see, God created women to be a helper to man.
Genesis 2:18-22, The Lord God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone. I will make a helper suitable for him.” Now the Lord God had formed out of the ground all the beasts of the field and all the birds of the air. He brought them to the man to see what he would name them; and whatever the man called each living creature, that was its name. So the man gave names to all the livestock, the birds of the air and all the beasts of the field. But for Adam no suitable helper was found. So the Lord God caused the man to fall into a deep sleep; and while he was sleeping, He took one of the man’s ribs and closed up the place with flesh. Then the Lord God made a woman from the rib He had taken out of the man and brought her to the man,”
We were designed to be a HELPER to man, not doer of all, but helper. How many of you actually feel like you “do” more than you “help”? Some how we take on the world and still get the job done.
So the subject of balance had three devotional passages, which I read, made some notes, and shared with the ladies.
"Spiritual" Activities
Passage: Leviticus 19:1-37
Focus Verse: Leviticus 19:2 ~ "...Be holy because I, the Lord your God am holy."
This devotion was written by Joni Eareckson Tada. Her life story is a devotion all its own.
She focuses on our daily activities, and how we classify them. We have our spiritual ~ teaching Sunday school, preparing a meal for a family in need, handing out clothes to the homeless, the list can go on.
And we have our not so spiritual ~ driving the kids to their activities, pumping gas in the car, grocery shopping, cleaning house, this list also goes on.
But her message is that no matter what activities make up our day, we have to ability and responsibility to make them holy. They can be a form or worship. From Leviticus 19:1-37, she emphasizes this;
“God is telling his people what he expects of them in their worship. God wants His people to understand that all life is spiritual; all of life’s activities come under His domain. Everything we do can be a way of worshiping Him.“
My favorite part of this whole devotion, came from verse 9-10 which say, “When you reap the harvest of your land, do not reap to the very edges of your field or gather the gleanings of your harvest. Do not go over your vineyard a second time or pick up the grapes that have fallen. Leave them for the poor and the alien. I am the Lord your God.”
I don’t know how much more of a spiritual act that can be, leaving food out in the open, unattended, for anyone in need to take and fill their need.
We may not always know when we have helped someone, especially spiritually. God just wants us to be obedient and holy for He is holy. When you do something for some, let Him make their heart grow fonder.
The Mary and Martha in Me
Passage: 2 Chronicles 31:11-21
Focus Verse: 2 Chronicles 31:20-21 ~ "This is what Hezekiah did throughout Judah, doing what was good and right and faithful before the Lord his God. In everything that he undertook in the service of God's temple and in the obedience to the law and the commands, he sought his God and worked wholeheartedly. And so he prospered.
This devotion was written by Rita Schweitz, and she too emphasized the dividing line we place between”spiritual” activities and “worldly” activities.
The biblical story of two sisters, Mary and Martha can be found in Luke 10:38-42. We see that their priorities are at opposite ends of the spectrum. Martha, the “host” personality, and Mary, the “student” personality.
We all have these two sister personalities within us. Trying to balance between sitting with Jesus and learning from him, and feeling the need to get dinner started because the family will be home soon and will be ready to eat. Something gets put on the back burner, and unfortunately, it’s Jesus who has to wait.
Rita goes on to explain that this separation line we draw between spiritual and worldly activities is an artificial division. She goes on to say this,
“The contemplation of what God requires and the completion of the tasks He assigns us, are interlocking pieces of the same abundant life He pictures for each of us. Meeting Christ, like Mary, and meeting the practical needs of those around us, like Martha, are both acceptable in God’s sight.”
Just like Hezekiah in the focus verse above, in everything that we undertake, whether it be in the service of God or in obedience to the worldly things around us, we need to seek God and work wholeheartedly, and in Him, we will prosper.
His Rest
Passage: Matthew 11:25-30
Focus verse: Matthew 11:28 ~ "Come to me all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest."
This devotion was written by Diane Head. Her emphasis relies more on coming to Jesus for rest. Rest for the soul.
As moms, we have all had those moments when we hear a blood curdling scream from down the hall, and when we arrive at the doorway, we find it is only a spider crawling across the floor. And a small spider at that.
We are pulled in every different direction life has to offer, and rarely have a few minutes to pull ourselves together before the next task arrives. The “Mary” in us usually doesn’t get her turn.
This is when and where Jesus steps in to save our day, and our sanity. Go to Him, when we are weary and burdened, another version phrases it, weak and heavy-laden, and in Him we WILL find rest.
I think the focus verse needs to include 29 & 30 where Jesus says this;
“Take my yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Back in the pioneer days, farmers plowed their fields by hand, well, with the extreme help from an ox. But the animal being used would wear a harness, also called a yoke, around its neck/chest as they pulled the plow and farmer to cut through the dirt.
So when it is time to train a younger ox, or whatever animal the farmer uses, the younger receives a smaller, lighter yoke. This is attached to the older, more experienced one, and the two walk side by side.
The younger, learning from the older how to plow the field, receives a lighter work load at the beginning. The lighter yoke doesn’t have the same amount of pull as the one on the experienced ox, so the younger one is not so weighed down by the workload. At least not yet.
Jesus tells us to take His yoke upon us. His yoke is easy and His burden is light. What this means is Jesus is wearing the heavier yoke, the one we put on ourselves that contains all the troubles and responsibilities of the day, that bring us down. He gives us the lighter yoke, so as we walk along side Him, we learn from Him how to balance it all out.
In Conclusion
I do just want to make this point that as a mom, you ARE loved and appreciated. You take on the world for your family and keep things running smoothly. You are so many things for so many people. You are a mom, a wife, a daughter, a sister and a friend. Always know that God will not give you more than He knows you can handle.
So for me…….
As a daughter: I am privileged to have been able to celebrate 49 Mother’s Days with a wonderful woman God paired me with. She was a mentor, and beloved mom.
As a sister: I cherish the relationship I have with the two beautiful step sisters I was blessed to grow up with. I love them and keep them close to my heart. I have also been blessed with a wonderful, strong Christian sister-in-law who has been a perfect addition to our family.
As a wife: I am blessed with a man that knows the Lord, and strives to be the man God has created him to be. He loves his family and works hard to provide for us. Thank you hubby. I love you!
As a friend: I have been given the gift of great ladies in my life. Some friends are near allowing for our friendships to grow. Others are separated by distance, yet the bond is so strong that it feels like no time has passed when we do get together. I love my friends and cherish the connections we have.
As a mom: I cannot imagine my life without this beautiful daughter God has given me, who is turning into quite the young lady. My hope and prayer for you my daughter is that you lean on Christ in everything you do. Don’t take the heavy yoke upon yourself, take Jesus’ lighter yoke and walk along side Him. Let Jesus lead.
← This bible to the left, is the one I have and the three devotions I shared at our Mother’s Day Tea, came straight out of this one. This link is here for your convenience should you want one of your own.
The Bible here to the right, → is a new version. It contains the same great testimonials from the same great Christian women that version 1 has, but with a few new ladies. I will adding this one to my Bible collection. 🙂
Very sweet thoughts in your Conclusion. Happy Mother’s Day to you.
Thank you. I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day as well. (now it’s off to Father’s Day)
My mom and I both agree on gift cards as gifts, but if I was to make something, I can almost bet that she would want the sweet potato pie she taught me how to make when I was still in high school. ❤
Sweet potatoes was one of the few things my mom could never get me to like. Lol. We resorted to gift cards too. They are so handy.