It’s Mother’s Day. Mother’s Day is the third-largest card-sending holiday—113 million cards that have their say about mother. Here’s a sampling:
A good mother lets you lick the bowl. A great mother cuts off the mixer.
Mom, I know I can be difficult… I also have dad’s DNA.
Heard of Geritol—well for mothers there is Screwitol.
One of my favorite cards is not a card at all, but an audio recording of a mom and son through Story Corps—an archive of interviews that represent a slice of life of these current times. Go to :
https://www.npr.org/transcripts/1172684259. You will hear a mom, Roseann Smith, tell her son Mason that her wish is that “that no one will dime his light”. To me, great mothers are the keepers of “The Light”—their children. https://www.dropbox.com/s/sxy45s71kpihzq6/Mason%20and%20Mom-amphied-STORY%20CORPS.mp3?dl=0
That’s what a good—no, a great mother—does: protect their child’s light. That’s what God’s Mother’s Day card—His Scripture—says about great moms. It’s in keeping with what God says about His children: “You are the light of the world that should not be hid under a basket according to Matthews 5:14, 15. We don’t want to dim any of His lights.
What does God say about great moms—His light keepers? We see in various Scriptures, what God’s card has to say about moms who protect, train and who sacrifice for His little lights.
First, God says light-keeper mothers are protective mothers like Jochebed, Moses’ mom. Second, God says light-keeper mothers are training mothers like Timothy’s matriarchs who taught him the way of faith. Finally, God says light-keeper moms are sacrificing moms like the mother revealed through Solomon’s wisdom. Today is Mother’s Day. Give thoughtful conversation to what kind of mom you had, what kind of mom you are, and what kind of mom God calls you to be no matter your gender, age, or politics. You are called to be light-keepers. Are you going to hide or shine?
First, God says a good mother is a protective mother like Jochebed, Moses’ mom. We see Jochebed’s protective nature in Exodus, chapter 2. The backstory is this. Pharaoh has called for an infanticide of all Hebrew newborn males. He sees the growing Israelites as a threat. He commissioned the Hebrew midwives to kill the boy children as soon as they are born. However, they refused to be a part of the infanticide. They lied to Pharaoh saying the Hebrew women give birth too quickly before they can intervene. Their rebellion gave Jochebed time for her protective instincts to kick in.
But when she could hide him no longer, she got a papyrus basket for him and coated it with tar and pitch. Then she placed the child in it and put it among the reeds along the bank of the Nile. Ex. 2:3
Her action put Moses—her light—on a course to become the prince of Egypt. You know the rest of the story. Jochebed becomes a living example of the Scripture that reads: “Cast your bread upon the waters and it will return to you.” No sooner than baby Moses is discovered along the banks of the Nile by Pharaoh’s daughter, she enlists a Hebrew nanny for this Hebrew child. That nanny would be Jochebed.
Moses is educated in the Egyptian ways in Pharaoh’s palace, but he is also privately reared in his Hebrew heritage by his mother. He eventually rejoins his Hebrew roots after fleeing Pharaoh’s house after defending one of his people being abused by an Egyptian. Moses killed that abuser. Moses, now on the lam in the Midian desert, is enlisted by God to go to back to Egypt, this time as a deliverer, to go to Pharaoh and tell him to “Let my people go.” Moses would be Israel’s light to lead God’s people through the Red Sea and into freedom. But it was Jochebed, his mother who protected Moses’s light, setting the course of events that would bring to pass his purpose—the deliverer of God’s people. Protecting are what great mothers do.
Who protected your light from the evils of the world: sexual, intellectual, spiritual abuse so you could achieve your purpose? Likewise, whose light have you protected? Angeli Gómez was such a mother—a protector of light—her two children. She ran into the Uvalde school to protect them when heavily armed law enforcement first responders wouldn’t go into the school where a gunman was killing 19 lights. Instead, law officers handcuffed her. But she managed to get uncuffed and ran into the school again. She retrieved her children, safe and sound. That’s being a light keeper mom.
This kind of projective motherly quality is genderless. It is not reserved for women only. The Apostle Paul reminded the Thessalonians that apostles had been gentle to them like a mother. We all can be light protectors.
On the contrary, we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother caring for her children. 1 Thes. 2:7
Today is Mother’s Day. Give thoughtful conversation to what kind of mom you had, what kind of mom you are, and what kind of mom God calls you to be: a protecter of the light.
Second, God says a great mother is a trainer and teacher of light like Timothy’s mom and grandmother. They taught and trained their “light-child” and shaped his faith. He would become a prominent pastor of the early church, a mentee of the Apostle Paul.
In Paul’s letter to his student, he reminded Timothy of the good teaching and training he received from his mommy and granny that has shaped his faith; and that he must do the same for the church he would now lead:
I have been reminded of your sincere faith, which first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and, I am persuaded, now lives in you also. II Tim. 1:51
But as for you, continue in what you have learned and have become convinced of, because you know those from whom you learned it, 15 and how from infancy you have known the holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. II Tim. 3:14,15
Who trained your light and shaped your faith in your formative years? Even more, who are you teaching and training to shape their faith light. Somebody guided you in learning Scripture and brought you to church to nurture your faith through worship. They knew that “faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” and you’d need that faith in a tough world.
The motherly quality of training faith is genderless. Like Timothy, Mr. Rogers, a trainer of light, had a teacher and shaper—his mother. His famed television show trained children with an invitation: Won’t you be my neighbor? Where did he get this ethos? From his mother Nancy:
“My mother, Nancy Rogers encouraged me throughout my childhood in meaningful conversation about the values of hard work, commitment to family and service to others.”
Today is Mother’s Day. Give thoughtful conversation: what kind of mom you had, what kind of mom you are, and what kind of mom God calls you to be—a trainer and teacher of faith as a Keeper of the Light.
Finally, God says a good mom is a sacrificing mom like the mother Solomon revealed. In the wisdom, the real mother was identified as the one who was willing to make the ultimate sacrifice to keep alive the life-light of her child. You know the story in 1Kings 3. Two women claimed the same child as theirs. He called for his sword: “I will divide the child in two. Each of you can have a share.” He knew, the real mother would stand up.
26Then the woman whose child [was] the living one spoke to the king, for she was deeply stirred over her son and said, "Oh, my lord, give her the living child, and by no means kill him." But the other said, "He shall be neither mine nor yours; divide [him]!" 27Then the king said, "Give the first woman the living child, and by no means kill him. She is his mother."
Real mothers, the great mothers, make the necessary sacrifice to keep their children’s light alive. Mason’s mom made such a sacrifice—toiling in two and three jobs, through cancer and a heart attack. Through it all, she did what she did to keep his light shining.
Who in your life have made enormous sacrifices to keep your light lit; and even more so, what sacrifices are you now making to keep someone else’s light lit so they will shine?
You don’t have to look far from your midst to see this kind of sacrificial motherhood—the Bynum’s—two women on one accord—the lights of Angelina and Natasha. And look how bright these two Russian orphans shine—one, College-trained and professionally qualified as a caretaker of the socially challenged; the other, an artist extraordinaire. What some may see as unconventional motherhood, God sees as exceptional parenting rooted in sacrifice. That mothering, He is intimately acquainted: His Son on Calvary.
Today is Mother’s Day. Give thoughtful conversation: What kind of mom you had, what kind of mom you are, and what kind of mom has God calls you to be—a sacrificer for light like Mason’s mom and Angelina and Natasha’s moms who keep lights burning, whatever the cost.
CONCLUSION:
It’s Mother’s Day with more than 113 million cards that have their say about the good mother. So has God, not of the good mother, but the great mother. First, God says a great mother is a protective mother like Jochebed, Moses’ mom who protected her son’s light from Pharaoh. Second, God says a great mother is a teaching mom like Timothy’s mom and grandmother. They shaped his faith so he could shape the faith of others as a pastor. Finally, God says a great mom is a sacrificing mom like the mother revealed through Solomon’s wisdom. She was willing to give up her son to keep his light burning.
Of the million Mother’s Day cards, my favorite is the audio conversation of 12-year-old Mason and his mom. It made me cry.It was evident, she was the protector, teacher, sacrificer for his light. Her wish is that no one would dim it. It moved me to tears. I hope it has moved you to thoughtful conversation on motherhood: What kind of mom you had, what kind of mom you are, and what kind of mom God calls you to be—a call for all to be—a Light Keepers. Light has no gender. Light has no age. Light has no politics. Light just shines. So, let your little light shine as you keep the light of others so it will shine, shine, shine, this Mother’s Day, and every day.
Happy Mother’s Day.
Comments