The Promise of Mothers' Day

 May 12, 2024

Sunday

Before the Civil War a lady named Ann Reeves Jarvis from West Virginia held "Mother's Day Work Clubs" to help young women learn to properly care for their children. After her death, her daughter Anna Jarvis worked to establish a day in which mothers would be honored for all their sacrifices for their children. A contributor to her cause was John Wanamaker a Philadelphia Department store owner. The first successful Mothers' Day celebration was held in a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia as Wanamaker had thousands of people celebrate in his department stores in Philadelphia. 

Anna Jarvis began a massive letter writing campaign to newspapers and prominent politicians urging them to establish a special day honoring mothers. By 1912 many states, towns and churches held Mothers' Day celebrations. Finally President Woodrow Wilson signed a resolution that the second Sunday in May would be established as Mothers' Day.

Today there are few who would deny this holiday. It is a cause for reflection. It is a cause to think of what it is that honors mothers. They were the first to carry us. They were the ones who worked so hard to feed and clothe us. They were the ones who ate after we did and would always give up the last piece of fried chicken so that we could have it.

The Bible tells us that we should honor our fathers and mothers. It doesn't say that we should only honor some of them. We are not our parents' judges. We may think they favored another sibling. We may believe they had nothing left for us after giving it to our brother or sister. We may think they didn't give us enough time. But when we realize that our own parenting was somewhat flawed, we generally agree that our mothers were doing the best they could with what they had. The favor we say going to a sibling may have been to redeem that child from a life of hardship. It may have been a mother's last effort to keep the child from rebellion. We may not know the reasons why. It doesn't matter. No reason absolves us from honoring our mothers.

There is a blessing with this command. We will have a long life in the land the Lord gives. Some will dispute this. They will point out that some die early who have honored their mothers. Of course, we can't deny that many die when young. We can say that this land we are in now is not the land we will live long in. It is when we enter into God's heaven that we will truly live long. 

Honoring your mother will not save you but being saved will honor your mother. Think about it.

Exodus 20:12 (NASB 2020)¹² “Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged on the land which the Lord your God gives you.