I recall your sincere faith that first lived in your grandmother Lois and in your mother Eunice and now, I am convinced, is in you also. 2 Timothy 1:5
Happy Mothers Day 2020! When Paul thinks of the faith of Timothy, he remembers that credit is to go to his grandmother and his mother. How Fantastic that the influence was evident so much that Paul would memorialize it in his writing for us to see all these years later. I wonder how he knew of this influenced relationship on Timothy. I wonder if Timothy spoke of them. I wonder if they were known in the community as women of faith. I wonder...
Well, if Paul had been my mentor, he would know for for sure of the relationship I had with my mother. As a self-proclaimed momma's boy, he would have heard me reference my mother often. Her sincere faith that was passed to me, came from her mother. This I know, having spent my life in their company until the day that each of them went on up. I have had an occasion to credit my mother as being a living example of Jesus to my older sister and me in that she gave up her life for me. Not in a substitutionary death of physical life like Jesus but a sacrificial setting aside of her plans and dreams for the sake of the raising of children. She wasn't even thirty yet when I was born so I'm sure she had probably thought there would be some more young and free days before starting a family.
Without embellishment or hyperbole, I can say for sure, that I am the man I am today because of a praying grandmother and the influence of a mother who is the greatest woman I have ever known. I have been in church and have loved God's church because of them - the entirety of my life. As of this summer, I have been at Leawood for forty-one years because my grandmother knew the bus captain on the church bus route - the bus route that I now drive on Sunday mornings. Listen folks, I'm not bragging on me. I'm bragging on the way God used them to give me life, figuratively and literately. It's worth noting for me. It's an influence that has affected and effected me in ways I might not even know consciously.
Well, I'm over 2,100 characters in the writing here, so I guess I should wrap up for today. I could go on. Being a mom is a HUGE deal! One of the biggest - none of us would be here without one. Being a mother is such a big deal, that God used one Himself to get Himself to planet earth. He's God so He could have just appeared on the scene as an adult one day and just started His earthly presence that way. Chose a mom instead.
Whether a saint or a scoundrel, you're here because of her. If you don't have the ability to say great things and don't have great memories of your mother, that's okay too but the Lord did use her to get you here to the planet so you can thank Him for that one thing.
- Pray for the young girls just starting out who are worried that they don't have what it takes - pray that they'll remember that they do or God wouldn't have given them the greatest chance of a lifetime.
- Pray that the mom's with kids still at home would rely on God to guide them.
- Pray for the grandmothers too. That God would use them to spoil their grandchildren rotten to the annoyance of their mothers (JUST KIDDING - kinda). (It's fun being a grandma, ain't it?)
- Pray for the Great-Grandmothers there are many of you also!