I watched my wife lay on that hospital bed with her face pale and sweaty. Her body was still cramping and bleeding from complications after delivering our third child. “Please bring me the baby,” she said. “I need to feed her.” I shook my head in amazement and said to the nurse, “Mommies are warriors.”
Thankfully, my wife is doing better now, but I’m learning to appreciate the heroic role of mom. According to Salary.com, if you added up the total value of a mother’s work ranging from chef to housekeeper, day care provider to van driver, moms would earn a salary of $117,000. Guess I shouldn’t complain when my wife wants to go out to eat once in a while. She’s earned it!
Moms have one of the hardest jobs in the world. But their duties go well beyond feeding, grooming, and shuttling the family. They’ve also been entrusted by God with spiritual training. The Apostle Paul writes to a young pastor named Timothy, “I clearly recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois, then in your mother Eunice, and that I am convinced is in you also” (2 Timothy 1:5). Timothy’s faith and spiritual formation were directly tied to the loving training of his mom and grandma. This is not to undermine the central role a father must play as spiritual leader in the home. But let’s pause and tip our hats to mom.
Mothers, don’t grow weary in doing well. You’re changing the world by raising up a new generation of teachers, soldiers, artists, inventors, pastors, and missionaries. Grandparents, keep praying for your family, cheering them on, and reminding them that God is always faithful. And Fathers, take time this Mother’s Day to sincerely thank that heroic woman who raised you, and the one who is now helping you raise the kids. Let them know just how special they are.
President Teddy Roosevelt said in 1905, “The woman’s task is not easy—no task worth doing is easy—but in doing it, and when she has done it, there shall come to her the highest and holiest joy known to mankind; and having done it, she shall have the reward prophesied in Scripture; for her husband and her children, yes, and all people who realize that her work lies at the foundation of all national happiness and greatness, shall rise up and call her blessed.”
Over 100 years later, those words still ring true. Happy Mother’s Day!
This article appeared in today’s edition of our local newspaper, the Hi Desert Star.
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