By Rev.Daniel Yaw

Introduction
The month of May is about remembering mothers. In the US, Mother's Day is celebrated on the second Sunday of May each year.

The idea started in America when a woman called Anna Jarvis held a small memorial service for her mother on 12 May 1907.

Soon after, most places in America were observing the day and in 1914, the US president made it a national holiday, celebrated on the second Sunday of May.

Today, most of the world sets apart this day to remember mothers.

What then are we to remember about them?

A Picture of Quiet Strength
Proverbs 31 was written by King Lemuel who wrote down some great sayings about mothers.  The writings were inspired by the utterance of his mother.  In that long chapter, King Lemuel honored women in general and mothers in particular as filled with dignity, wisdom, enterprising, diligent, and many others.  Among them is the aspect of strength and dignity in verse 25 – “She is clothed with strength and dignity;  she can laugh at the days to come.”

Most of the time, by nature we would think of women as delicate, and yet their strength and resilience are unparalleled.  They exhibit spiritual and emotional strength.  We can understand why they are made to bear and deliver babies.  In life, they are those who have greater resilience.  Proverbs 31:25 simply made a profound statement in these words – she can laugh at the days to come.”

A Picture of Nurturing and Relationship.
Another great nature of women and mothers is that they are natural nurturers.  Throughout their motherhood, they occupied themselves with compassion, love, and care.  They care for their husbands, their children, and oftentimes at the expense of themselves.

When God wanted to express his care in the Bible, both in the Old Testament and New, mother‘s are beings used.
When Israel complained that God had forgotten and forsaken them and questioned the love of God, Isaiah the prophet spoke in Isaiah 49:15, “Can a woman forget her nursing child, that she should have no compassion on the son of her womb?  Even these may forget, yet I will not forget you.”

In the New Testament, Jesus himself described his love for His people as a mother hen gathers her chicks under her wings, Matthew 23:37, “How often would I have gathered your children together as a hen gathers her brood under her wings, and you were not willing!”

A Picture Purposeful Partners
When God created man, he also created a “helper”, someone who would walk alongside man for the rest of his life.  A partner with purpose, the woman is to share in the work with the man to keep the garden and to multiply and bring up the children in the ways of God.  Though it did not work out in the Garden of Eden, that same role did not stop after the fall.  She is still the purposeful partner to serve together with the man and bring the children up in the fear of the Lord.

Mothers have always been a powerful influence in the lives of children today.  Biblical examples can be seen in Eunice and Lois, the mother and grandmother of Timothy, a great servant of God in the Bible.

Hannah, the mother of the greatest prophet in the Old Testament – Samuel，who offered him at a young and tender age to the Lord to serve Him.

Jochebed, the mother of Moses, somewhat felt that her little boy would be someone used by God one day and later became the deliverer of the people of Israel from the land of slavery. Naomi is another character who became a favorite mother-in-law amidst horrible stories of mothers and daughters-in-law.  Ruth was drawn to her and her God and later though a Gentile, became a proselyte and was in the ancestry line of our Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.

Conclusion
I can go on and on in scriptures, great examples who became great inspirations to all mothers.  Once again in 2024, allow me to honor and thank all mothers and wish you all a blessed Mother’s day, and may you be recorded in the bible of our minds.