Mother's Day Sunday, May 11, 2008
"Spiritual Fruit: Kindness"

(Gal 5:22 NRSV) …the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness…

A little boy forgot his lines in a Sunday school presentation. His mother was in the front row to prompt him. She gestured and formed the words silently with her lips, but it did not help. Her son’s memory was blank. Finally, she leaned forward and whispered the cue, “I am the light of the world.” The child beamed and with great feeling and a loud, clear voice said, “My mother is the light of the world.” (Bits and Pieces, August 1989)

More Than a Mother by Kari Keshmiry:

When God set the world in place,
When He hung the stars in space,
When He made the land and the sea,
Then He made you and me.

He sat back and saw all that was good,
He saw things to be as they should.
Just one more blessing He had in store;
He created a mother, but whatever for?

He knew a mother would have a special place
To shine His reflection on her child’s face.

Oh, the power of a godly mother! A mother filled with Pentecost – the filling of the Holy Spirit – nothing can compare to! Now, I realize that not all mothers are godly! I realize that some of you may have had a terrible relationship or no relationship at all with your mother. Others may be profoundly missing their mother today. I am glad that God is both Mother and Father to us; and God enables us to be godly parents to our own and to others. Praise be to God.

Today’s spiritual fruit is “kindness.” I find it interesting that people who are often remembered most are those who were kind. A kind mother is a gem!

Susan and I paid a visit this past week to one of my college English and Composition professors, now retired, in Philippi, Leah Richards. She has not been well, and it had been sometime since I had seen her. I house set for her during the summer of 1986 while she traveled. I worked at the same church that she attended, and got to know her pretty well. When she saw me, I could tell that she remembered me. It was great to see her. As we were chatting, I told her that I had 2 very clear memories of her. First, she uncovered that my roommate had been pronouncing a word wrong just about his whole life. The word that he was mispronouncing was the word “category.” He had been pronouncing it “categlory.” Second, I remembered writing a paper about my mother, mentioning how much she had influenced my life and how appreciative I was. I’ll never forget her comment in big, bold red on my paper: “Great. Now be sure you tell her!”

Some of you have been reading Proverbs. The last chapter speaks about an ideal wife and mother: She looks forward to the future with joy. She speaks wise words and teaches others to be kind. She watches over her family and never wastes her time. Her children speak well of her. Her husband also praises her. Give her the reward she has earned.

One person suggested making a list of 31 things that your wife, your mother, your grandmother or significant other does for you and your family which you seldom thank her for, making a specific point of thanking her for one a day the coming month. Watch what that does for your relationship!

Back to our spiritual fruit: kindness. A truly kind mother is a mother in constant prayer for her brood!

Lorne Sanny of The Navigators once wrote of his mother: “My mother gave birth to me in a frontier house on a Midwestern prairie. On the kitchen counter she placed a list of the ingredients necessary for my formula. At the top of the list was “prayer,” and that remained at the top of her list for me throughout her life…I have her to thank for firmly establishing my spiritual roots. (Today in the Word, January 1990, p 23)

The great preacher Charles Spurgeon once commented, “I cannot tell how much I owe to the prayers of my good mother. I remember her once praying, ‘Now Lord, if my children go in sin it will not be from ignorance that they perish, and my soul must bear swift witness against them at the day of judgment if they lay not hold on Christ and claim Him as their personal Savior.

Years ago, a young mother was making her way across the hills of South Wales, England, carrying her tiny baby in her arms, when she was overtaken by a blinding blizzard. She never reached her destination and when the blizzard had subsided, her body was found by searchers beneath a mound of snow. But they discovered that before her death, she had taken off her outer clothing and wrapped it about her baby. When they unwrapped the child, to their great surprise and joy, they found that he was alive and well. She had mounded her body over his and given her life for her child, proving the depths of her mother love. Years later, that child, David Loyd George, grown to manhood, became prime minister of Great Britain, and without a doubt, one of England’s greatest statesmen. (James Hewett, Illustrations Unlimited, 1972, p. 375)

This is a grand picture of what God has done for us through Christ – He has given His life for ours. A profound, unceasing love. Come to this Love today, as you are, and find renewal and rebirth. Allow God to be your perfect parent, supplying all your needs, not the least of which is eternal life.