Maineville Lighthouse Church

 

I was thinking…Pastor Steve

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“A wife of noble character who can find?

    She is worth far more than rubies.” 

Proverbs 31: 10  (NIV)

 

          With Mother's Day coming up, I'm always reminded of this section of Proverbs.  From verse 10 to verse 31, the author gives a "model" picture of the perfect wife and mother.  She's a caretaker, manager, organizer, business person...she just does it all!  Who wouldn't be saying great things about her at the city gates?

 

          Is this possible?  Can a woman live up to those standards?  Sure.  I've known many women who not only manage to raise their families, go to PTA meetings, motivate their family to attend church, but have a career of their own.  I think the problem is, this is expected.  I know that I have fallen into what my sister called, the male chauvinist mindset in my early years.  My expectations of marriage, family, and spousal roles were what many would say is "old school."  I was brought up in that type of family dynamics, so that's what I expected to carry on in my adulthood.

 

          Times have definitely changed in the last 40 or 50 years.  It used to be that girls in high school had a limited amount of choices when they were going to start a career: nurses, teachers, cooks, waitresses, bank employees, or something similar.  In fact, for some of those jobs, if you were considering marriage and having children, that opted you out of them, too.

 

          Thank goodness, times have changed.  Many of you have talents and gifts in areas that men don't.  You think differently and solve problems in ways that men wouldn't have.  I have no doubt that women can do much more than they've been given credit for.  One problem I see with this is, they are expected to do it all.  Women, like everyone else, can get overwhelmed with their careers, family, social commitments, and life.  Again, the men in your lives need to take on more to offset those pressures.  I, unfortunately, was terrible at that...and I apologize.  Younger men are doing a much better job at it than I did, but we can still fall into those old habits.

 

          Women, we love and appreciate all that you do.  When your family falls short on the support side of your life, please try to give us some grace.  Sometimes, we are just oblivious of your struggle.  Not because we don't care; we just get wrapped up in ourselves.  But that happens to all of us at sometime or other.  We forget to look around and see how or where we can help our neighbor, friend, church member, or a total stranger.  Like the Good Samaritan, he helped a person he didn't even know and didn't check to see if there was going to be any repayment.  The Samaritan did it out of his love for his fellow man.  We should surely be able to do that for those we love and cherish.

 

          So, moms and wives, if you can still go by those titles, we love you and pray that Mother's Day will be very special for you.  In fact, I pray that every day will be special.  In reality, life gets in the way, but maybe we can make more days special than just one.  This should be on the minds of every family member:  “Her children arise and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praises her:  Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all.”  (v. 28, 29)

 

          We love you, Moms.  Whether you are a Mom, Grandmother, Special Aunt, Friend, or Neighbor, you have loved those you have called your children, and, for that, you get a wonderful Mother's Day.  God bless.

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* Yelling "Mom" always works for lost kids in stores.  They all turn around when they hear a child yell for them!

        

        

 

         

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