What Does Mother Mean

When I was growing up, there was a song we sang especially around Mother's Day. It was an acronym for the word "Mother" and, I believe the composer was attempting to explain what the word meant to him or her. I used to sing the song a lot without thought to its meaning, but now that I'm a mother -and grandmother - I've become a little more analytical and question to some degree the meaning of the words.

The song goes like this:



M is for the million things she gives me.

As mothers, we want to show our love to our children by giving them everything their little hearts desire, and so we give them more then a million things, only to see them discarded in a few days. We have to ask ourselves if we are harming or helping our children in this way.



O means only that she's growing old.

Mothers, no matter how young you are, or how young you look, in your children's eyes, you are old. So, don't try to look or behave like your twenty-something-year-old daughter. Just be yourself and your children will appreciate you for it.



T is for the tears she shed to save me.

We can all relate to this one. We shed tears the first day we leave little Johnny in pre-K, then when he goes off to college, we shed tears. More tears as we escort him up to the altar to meet his bride. Another deluge comes when we hold his newborn baby for the first time. Whether we shed tears of joy or tears of sorrow, we have an unending supply.



H is for her heart of purest gold.

Who else but a mother would exemplify a heart of gold by the way she cares for her children? Who else would give them unconditional love, devotion, selflessness, understanding. I can go on and on. Unfortunately, not all mothers do. Some of us expect our children to fall into some particular mold that we set for them instead of following their God-given talents and interests.



E is for her eyes with love light shining.

The eyes are the window to the soul, someone said. The love a mother has for a child shines through her eyes, but hurt, disappointment, loss, separation may dull the light in those beautiful eyes, even though the love remains.



R means right and right she'll always be.

I don't know about this one. Despite the halo around our heads, mothers are flawed beings like everyone else. We make mistakes, bad decisions. I know I have made some mistakes in raising my children, and I daresay, my mother did too, and most likely her mother before her. But the good news is, God knows our heart. If we confess our mistakes and shortcomings to Him, He would redeem those mistakes and set us and our children on the right path.



As you celebrate Mother's Day today with your children, consider the words of this song. Do they all ring true for you? Maybe not. But no matter how young or old you are, you can still thank God for the gift of motherhood and for the wonderful children He has placed in your care. Acknowledge your need of Him and ask Him to partner with you in "training up these children in the way they should go, so that when they are old they will not depart from it".

Happy Mother's Day!



Today is Mother's Day, and you may have already given your mother a beautiful gift, but you can still give her a gift that never fades, grows old or out of style. Give her the gift of a book that is guaranteed to bless her heart and remind her of the power of God’s love. Give her a printed copy of Coming Out of Egypt, complete with swag – tote bag, bookmark, bandana and pen. She will love you even more - if that's possible.


Coming Out of Egypt

Encourage Your Children

Courtesy morguefile

 The second to last Sunday of every month is set aside as Youth Sunday in my church, Sierra Norwood Calvary Baptist Church in Miami. This is the day when the young people conduct the service. They do everything except preach the sermon. As I watched them perform this morning, I thought Jesus must be looking on and smiling. I smiled too as I recalled His words, "Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for of such is the kingdom of heaven" (Matthew 19: 14)

What a wonderful privilege we have to nurture and prepare the next generation to become the leaders of tomorrow. It is one we should not take lightly. Unfortunately, not all children receive this type of preparation. Many of them are left to fend for themselves - which is a form of abuse - and are forced into adulthood while they are still children. Many of them never hear the name of Jesus spoken in the home, never have the Bible read to them, never attend church or Sunday School.

Children need to be encouraged to achieve their God-given potential. Some children are so discouraged by the treatment they receive at home they develop low self-esteem. The Bible says, "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of the Lord" (Ephesians 6: 4). doesn't give us a lot about Jesus's teenage years. We don't know if He kept Mary and Joseph up late at nights wondering where He was or who He was hanging out with. We do know that when He was twelve, He did cause them some worry when they went to Jerusalem and Jesus disappeared for three whole days! That would make any mom frantic.  (Read Luke 2: 42 - 50)


Some years later, we see Mary being the one to launch Jesus's ministry at the wedding feast in Cana of Galilee. (Read John 2: 1 - 11) I believe Mary must have been given divine wisdom from God to do what she did, because prior to this, she didn't seem to understand the full implications of who Jesus really was. Parents, if you want to know how to encourage your children, how to bring out the best in them, ask God for wisdom and guidance. He will tell you what, when and how to do what needs to be done for them. And He never makes a mistake. God bless.

_______________________________

I am pleased to introduce you to my first novel Coming Out Of Egypt, Book 1 in the Egypt series. It features the story of a young woman who is fleeing an abusive past to escape the law and make a new life for her and her sister. See how her struggles and her desperate efforts fail to bring her the peace she'd hoped for, a peace that can only come from God. Today is the last day to preorder
Coming Out Of Egypt . You will be blessed by it.

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Don't Leave Your Children Alone!

If you are a follower or regular reader of this blog, you may recognize the above title as being the opposite of one I wrote a couple weeks ago. Here's the post. So, you may be saying, should we leave them alone, or shouldn't we? Well, it depends. If your children are grown and no longer under your roof, you leave them alone.

If they are still under your roof, meaning you are still responsible for them, then don't leave them alone! You care for them, spend time with them, talk to them and listen when they speak to you.

You might say that it's only commonsense that young children be supervised, but all too often we hear of a child losing his/her life because the parents were negligent. In some cases, they were abandoned. Those stories tear at our heart strings and even incur our righteous anger. But that's not all that I'm referring to in this post. There are many children growing up nowadays with little or no parental guidance. They are left to their own devices - they watch whatever they want to watch on TV, wear whatever they choose to wear, and receive little or no instructions about God.

In today's society, parents, Christians as well as non-Christians seem to be in a quandary as to how they should bring up their children. The Bible has a lot to say about the way we ought to bring up our children. Let's look at some of them:

Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.
Teach them to your children, talking about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. Deuteronomy 11: 18 - 19.

This day I call heaven and earth as witnesses against you that I have set before you life and death, blessings and curses. Now choose life, so that you and your children may live(30: 19)

I was young and now I am old, yet I have never seen the righteous forsaken or their children begging bread. They are always generous and lend freely; their children will be blessed. Psalms 37: 25 - 26

A good man leaves an inheritance for his children's children, but a sinner's wealth is stored up for the righteous. Proverbs 13: 22

Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it. (22: 6).

Do not withhold discipline from a child; if you punish him with the rod, he will not die. (23: 13)

The rod of correction imparts wisdom, but a child left to himself disgraces his mother.(29 : 15).

  Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these." (Matthew 19 : 14)

'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise' ?"  (21 : 16)

Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right. Ephesians 6 : 1

 Fathers, do not exasperate your children; instead, bring them up in the training and instruction of the Lord. (v 4)  

Parents, don't leave your children alone! 

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