WHO IS MY MOTHER
／Dorothy Yang
Today is Mother's Day. What a privilege for me, a mother, to share
with you my thoughts on this day. I am not here to preach but here to
witness God's blessings to every mother. We were supposed to be blamed
for the original disobedience and to be punished by the pain during
childbirth. (Gen 3: 16) However, God is merciful and He gives us
children to hold, to nurse, to watch them grow and to love. We also
receive love from our children. Now I am a grandmother and my 2 teenage
granddaughters love me. I am their best friend.
God gave me a mother who loved the Lord, her family and the people
around her. At her funeral, one elderly lady kept on sobbing. Our family
did not know her. Finally she told the family that she sold vegetables
on the street and my mother had been helping her educate all her children
through the years. On Sunday afternoons my mother managed to have an
evangelistic outreach service and Sunday school in the neighborhood.
My mother was illiterate but she taught herself to read the whole Bible.
She died in 1960. God spared her from the cultural revolution. She gave
me the richest inheritance which was her faith. I know that she is alive
in heaven and looking down to see me following her steps. She will be
smiling.
What a blessing it is to be a mother. Yet it is the most difficult
job in the world. There is only one you and your child in this world.
We are all made different. Your child's personality and your
personality are totally different. No one can teach you how to raise
your child, we can follow the general principles based on tradition
and the Bible. Can we understand their culture and environment such
as their schools where they spend most of their time? Before they know
how to behave and to make their decisions, we have the responsibility
to guide them. The hardest thing to know is when they have grown up
so that we can trust them and respect their decisions...
I have one daughter and one son about 3 years apart. Before they
were 10 years old they had such a big fight that forced to use a plastic
baseball bat to hit both of them on the buttocks. Years later they told
me that each had a book hidden under the pants. Now they have grown
up. My daughter has 2 teanage daughters living in Wayne N. J. My son
has 4 children living in Honolulu Hawaii. They all serve the Lord in
their churches. It is only by the grace of God. I did serve the Lord
while they were growing up. They have also inherited my faith.
What do you think is the greatest honor to a mother? Let me read
you two scriptures: Matt 12:47-50: and Luke 8:19-21:
Jesus never meant to disrespect his family on earth. He wanted to
stress to the crowd the new relationship in the Kingdom of God. Jesus
was only a little over thirty years old. Some women old enough to be
his mother followed him from Galilee and cared for his needs. (Mark
15:40)
How can we, the older women, be Jesus' mother? Jesus had told us
what to do?
1. Love the Lord with all our heart, soul, mind and strength and
love our families.
2. We must put God's words into practice and live Godly lives. The
children will unconsciously imitate.
3. Only by prayers one can handle all our problems in bringing up
children.
4. Don't we want our children to be like Jesus? Is it wonderful to
be the Mother of Jesus on this Mother's Day, the first Mother's Day
in this new century.
